Kitsune
by kai-foxflight
Summary: Hinata and Neji are identical twins. Their mother abandoned them, their father is in jail, and their aunt who had been taking care of them died when they were only 7. Left alone, they lived on the streets until taken in to separate homes. Contact was lost between the two for over 8 years. Now enter Kitsune, with band members Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai. And let the story unravel.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hinata and Neji are identical twins with a not so pleasant past. Their mother abandoned them when they were young, their father was a drunk who is in jail, and their aunt who had been taking care of them died when they were only 7. Left alone, they lived on the streets until taken in to separate homes. Contact was lost between the two for over 8 years. Now, enter Kitsune, with band mates Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai. And let the story begin to unravel.**

**Chapter 1**

"One pork ramen, Hinata." The teenaged schoolboy still in uniform sat on a stool and watched as a raven hair girl made the food easily and placed it in front of him with practiced ease and a delicacy that only came with being her.

"Here you are, Konohamaru." She dipped her and stepped back from the counter, standing straight yet almost hiding within herself as she watched him but didn't make any conversation. Leaving it to him.

"Heya, Hinata, did you hear about Kitsune? Apparently they were searching for another singer, and they found some kid from around her." He ate a bit of the ramen before looking up at the girl, who stared at him with curiosity. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

Hinata shook her head quickly, a small smile on her face. "No, it's not that. Just… Who is Kitsune?"

Konohamaru stared at her for a few seconds before scrambling to find his iPod. Pulling up a video, he held it towards her. "Only one of the greatest bands every! How do you not know them? Aren't girls your age supposed to know all the popular bands nowadays?" He threw a smile her way to tell her he was joking and finished eating as he put the music device away. "Thanks for the food!" Throwing down enough money to cover the food and a generous tip, he spun off the stool, waving as he walked away. "See ya later, Hinata!" With that said, he turned around and started running back towards his school, glancing at his watch with a worried look on his face.

Hinata cleaned up the abandoned bowl and placed the money away, taking her tip and stuffing it into her apron. Seeing no new customers, she turned around and began cooking something new as she waited for more people.

Not too far away, a man in a suit leaned back on a building, looking between the girl working the ramen shop and a picture, clicking his tongue on his teeth as he did so. "She looks just like him…"

After the final customer left from the shop, he pushed himself off from the wall and made his way over there. She barely looked up from a boiling dish as he stepped inside. "Hinata?"

Finally, she stopped to look at him. "How do you… who are you?" Grabbing a knife from the table without him seeing, Hinata stared him down. "How do you know who I am?"

He sighed and sat down while pulling out a card and handing it to Hinata. She took it carefully, never taking her eyes off the man. "I'm Asuma Sarutobi. I'm guessing you know who this is." He held up the picture he had been comparing her to, and her eyes widened. "I'm the manager for your brother. And I need you to do something."

Stepping forward to get a better look at the picture of her brother, Hinata let the knife fall from her hand, clattering to the floor. "Is Neji okay? Did anything happen to him?"

Asuma rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, he had a little accident. That's where you come in." He leaned forward, tearing the picture from Hinata's gaze to stare her straight in the eye. "I need you to take your brother's place today."

"That-that's absurd!" She stepped back, her foot only inches from the fallen knife. "Look, I-I can't help you with that, okay? I'm sorry, but I was never the one to do things like that. That was always Neji." She glanced around, her eyes falling on a packaged bag by the door. "I have things to do. I would appreciate it if you left me alone to do my job." She picked up the knife before walking over and grabbing the bag and a set of keys from the counter. Opening the door, she yelled something in English before closing the door and starting to walk away. "Why are you still here?"

She stared Asuma down with the same stare Neji would use when he was angry. He shook his head to rid it of the thought. "I need you. Neji needs you. Please."

"My answer is no. End of story." She glanced at him before placing the bag over the counter. Placing both hands on the bar, she jumped over, landing on her feet on the other side. Again, all Asuma could think of was when Neji would do the same exact thing. They even wore the same sneakers and jeans. They truly were twins, through in through, if they could manage that without any contact in 8 years.

"Hinata, listen to me. This is extremely important to Neji. If you won't do it for me, do it for him." She stopped walking out of the shop but didn't turn around to face Asuma.

After what seemed like a mental battle in herself, Hinata sighed. "What do I have to do?"

"Sign something. With your brother's name."

"Isn't that fraud?" Hinata turned to stare at the man, who only looked at his feet. "Who? What company? Why?"

"Kitsune. Your brother is going to be the new singer."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"You sure this is going to work?" Hinata pulled at her shirt a little, making sure it laid perfectly, and then twisted the wig a little, checking in the mirror if it was perfect. When it was, she stepped out of the little bathroom in the company's building, handing the bag with her original clothing to Asuma.

"Yes. You look exactly like him." Asuma patted her on the back before leading the way through a maze of hallways to a set of double doors. "You ready?" She nodded, pulling a cap over the wig to help keep it in place and making sure it looked good before opening the doors.

The two walked into the room with a few people sitting around a table. Everyone looked up as they entered and a man walked forward to greet them. "I'm Kakashi Hatake, but I guessing you already knew that." He grabbed Hinata's hand, shaking it and giving an eye smile, the rest of his face hidden by a mask so she couldn't tell if he actually was.

"Neji." She took the seat she was directed to and glanced at the paper in front of her.

"I'm guessing you read over the contract already?" Kakashi glanced at Hinata, but it was Asuma who answered with a yes. "Well then, let's get this over with. Shall we?" Grabbing a pen from his pocket, he signed it quickly before handing it over to Hinata.

Keeping her fingers crossed in her pocket, Hinata signed her brother's name on the paper. Asuma patted her back when she was finished, and Kakashi placed the pen back in its proper spot. "That is about it, then. I was hoping for you to meet your new band mates, but it seems they haven't gotten back yet." He went to stand when the doors burst open, revealing a black haired boy Hinata vaguely recognized as Sasuke from the quick recap Asuma gave her on their way over.

"I heard the new kid was here." He glanced at Hinata, so small in the chair. "Stand up, twerp."

She did as he said, but stared him right in the eyes. "I'm not a kid."

"Yeah, you are. How old are you, anyways? 12?" He circled her like a hawk would prey, but Hinata stood tall under his gaze. Asuma could only stand back and watch, hoping she was fine without him for a few moments.

"15. Almost 16."

"Well you look like a 12 year old kid. Sort of like that Bieber kid from America?" Sasuke snorted. "And you are still 2 years younger than me, so I can call you a kid if I want. Kid."

"Don't compare me to trash like him!" Hinata whipped around to face Sasuke, stopping his circling around her.

He stared at her for a few seconds before grabbing her wrist and dragging her out of the room. Kakashi turned to a stunned and slightly horrified Asuma. "Looks like they like each other."

"It looked like they were going to kill each other!"

"Where are you taking me?!" Hinata tried to fight against Sasuke's grip on her wrist, but he just held on.

"For someone who says they aren't a kid, you sure as hell whine like one." He stopped and pushed Hinata into a room. She flew into someone else who grabbed onto her to steady her. Jumping out of their arms, she hit someone else, only to jump away from them too. Sasuke just locked the door behind them. "If you think you are good, prove it." He grabbed a sheet of paper and shoved it into her hands. "Sing this."

She glanced around at the other two boys, Naruto and Sai, who looked at her with the same expectancy as Sasuke. As she wondered how she would get out of doing such a thing, there was a pounding on the door and some yelling from Asuma and a few others. Hinata glanced from the door to the band, who seemed unfazed. "You can't, can you?" Sasuke sneered at her and Hinata gulped as she looked between them and the door once again. There was some yelling about a key being somewhere.

"Sing something else if you want. Just prove it." The blonde—was it Naruto?—looked at her, almost pleading with his eyes. Hinata glanced down at the paper one last time, and just as Sasuke started to snort at her, she began.

It's Just Another Story saranghage dwaehsseo Aha han ibangin  
Yeah And It's All About Me eotteohke nareurihaeshikyeoya halji  
Uh jeo meolli geomeun geurimja neol mannandamyeon sucheon gillo naneun  
Tallyeoga  
Haha gaseume chongsoriga Bang chulbarhae neol hyanghan Race Right Now  
Beautiful Stranger keodaran du nune ppajyeo  
Ontong shinbiroun gamjeong keu eoneo nan mameul yeoreo  
Beautiful Stranger saramdeureun marhae You're Dangerous  
Naega paraboneun neoreul keudeureun jeonhyeo boryeo haji anha No

Sasuke stopped mid-sneer as she sang, and the pounding on the door stopped as well. Naruto's jaw dropped as he stared at her with amazement, and even Sai leaned forward to study her more. As she finished, the door was opened, Asuma the first in to sling his arm over Hinata's shoulders. "What did I say? Is he good or is he good?"

Sasuke schooled his face back to a neutral expression. "He's not bad, at least."

Kakashi patted Asuma on the back, ignoring what Sasuke said. "You sure pick the kids good, buddy."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I can't be here any longer. I finished helping my brother; I have my own things to do now." Hinata handed the bag of clothes and the wig back to Asuma, fixing her hair under a cap at the same time.

"Like what? Working a ramen shop?" Asuma didn't mean for it to sound harsh but it did. Hinata didn't seem to mind or care.

"Like packing for Korea. I am supposed to leave tomorrow, and you just wasted all the time I was going to pack." She turned to walk away, only for Asuma to grab her wrist.

"You can't go!" He tried to pull her back, but Hinata stood strong.

"Yes, I can. Let go of me." She shook her arm out of his grasp and turned back around to continue walking.

"Hinata, I need you still. Or, your brother does." He watched as she stopped and turned to look back at him, her gaze cold. "Why don't we talk in the car?"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Why the hell is Neji in America?" Hinata glared at Asuma with all the hate she could muster thrown into it. He was trying—failing—to not shrink back from her stare.

"I told you. He's getting the surgery corrected. He… uh," he fought against the cold stare of the 15 year old kid who could strike fear in pretty much anyone, "he can't quite close his eyes."

"This is all because of you!"She started shouting at him in Korean, lunging forward to punch him only to be held back by the seatbelt. After fighting against it for a little and losing, she gave up, leaning back in the seat and resorting to staring him down, something she had been doing a lot of recently. "Asshole," she muttered again in Korean.

"I don't want to know what you are saying about me." Asuma pushed his unnecessary sunglasses up his nose as he watched her. "But will you do it? For Neji at least?"

"Look, normally, I would give my life away for my brother, but I've spent years working to finally be able to do what I am. I haven't seen my brother in over 8 years, and here you are, asking me to give up over a month of my own life to live as an almost complete stranger." She went to unbuckled and jumped out of the car to walk the rest of the way.

Asuma scrambled to the door, stick his head out to yell after her. "You know why he wants to d this? He wants to find your mother! He wants you three to be a complete family again!" He knew she heard, but Hinata continued walking, not turning back to him again.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hinata sat in the middle of a small room with a few candles in front of her, the only light for her to read the small card Asuma handed her. After staring at the paper for some time, she sighed and pulled out a cell phone. Dialing in the number, she put it on speaker and held it in front of her. "Hello?" Asuma's voice came through the phone, not sounding the least bit tired despite it being past midnight.

Hinata didn't answer for a few seconds, instead glancing between her suitcase, the card, and a picture of her brother Asuma gave her, before sighing once again. "I'll do it."

"Hinata?" He seemed surprised to hear her, and it took a little for what she said to register. "Really?"

"On one condition. I'm giving up going to Korea, giving up on my chance to work in SMTown for this. You have to make that up to me." She pulled out a paper as she spoke, stroking her hand over the acceptance letter to the singing program, before holding it above the flame and watching it catch fire and burn.

"Consider it a done deal. I'll meet you-"

"At the airport. People still think I am going there." Hinata cut him off, never taking her eyes off the flame climbing towards her hand. She didn't let go, even when it started touching her skin. "I'll see you then." Without waiting for a reply, she closed the phone and threw it down on a pillow. "I can't believe I am doing this. Neji, you better be happy."

If only she knew how happy he would be when he found out all of this…

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hinata stared at the mirror in the men's room, watching herself as she cut off her own hair, completely detached from her body. Asuma stood on the other side of the door, making sure no one entered until she left. After the last clump of hair was thrown into the trash, Hinata took the gel from her bag and tousled her hair with it, before putting a new cap over it.

Knocking on the door for Asuma to let her out, she left the room looking like an exact copy of her brother. Asuma glanced at the girl for a few seconds to long, and she noticed. "What?"

"Nothing…" He started to lead her away, towards the car she would be leaving in. "You just look a lot like your brother."

"I know." They reached the doors and she didn't even wait, pushing her way through. Asuma stumbled after her, apologizing for anyone she might have push as she went through so rudely.

"I meant that in a good way, you know. This just might work now." He leaned on the wall next to her, waiting for the van to pull up. When it did, she sighed and climbed in quickly, leaving Asuma to take her small bags of luggage. By the time he had gotten into the car, Hinata was already leaning back in her seat, eyes closed and headphones in.

Asuma glanced at her but let her be as they drove off. After some time, he finally leaned forward and tore one of the earbuds out of her ear. She tried to glare him down, but it was ruined by her I-just-woke-up look on her face. "Listen to me, Hinata. You're going to be staying in the same penthouse as the band for the whole month. You got that?" She nodded, finally some-what obedient. "Good. Remember what I told you?" She nodded again before grabbing her headphones and sticking them back in, ignoring anything else he was going to say. Though he guessed it was better than nothing.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Woah…" Hinata twirled around in the middle of her room, taking in the sheer size of it. "This place is huge…"

"Yeah." Asuma threw her other bag down on a chair before pointing to a set of double doors. "That's your closet. And your stylist is-"

"Right here." A girl not much older than Hinata, 20 at most, appeared in the doorway. "I'm on your side." Hinata's eyes widened slightly before she turned to Asuma to glare at him. However, he made sure to turn his back to her so he wouldn't have to see it. "I'm Kurenai. And I know who you are already."

"I'm famous already?" she joked, kicking back in a chair in the room before turning to look at Kurenai again.

"Yeah, you actually are." Kurenai placed her makeup case down, ignoring the startled look from Hinata.

"I am?"

"Didn't I just say that?" The red-eyed lady grabbed Hinata's face, holding her straight to study it closely. After nodding a few times, she reached into her case and pulled out a colored pen. "Don't move and I'll explain it as I work." She started putting makeup on Hinata's face as the girl sat completely still. "You have quite a few anti-fans already, who don't want you in the group. They want Kitsune to be the way it was."

"Oh." She stilled again when Kurenai glared at her for moving.

"So just make a good impression on them today." Hinata's eyes widened again, and Kurenai reached behind her to hit Asuma across the back of his head without looking. "You didn't tell her what is tonight?"

"I didn't want her to worry, okay?" Asuma held his hands up in surrender from his seat on a set of steps in the room, backing away from Kurenai's glare.

"Like that would help. Listen, Hin-Neji," she corrected herself quickly, "the whole band is having a press conference tonight. It's introducing you to the band." Kurenai continued doing her makeup now, letting her take that in. When she was still silent, Kurenai stepped back to look at her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Kurenai brushed off the question when she saw Hinata really was. It surprised both Kurenai and Asuma that she didn't act at all shocked by the fact of the conference later.

"You knew, didn't you?" Asuma leaned forward while still staying far away from the two girls.

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." That was all Hinata said, and she dropped the topic after that, leaving the two wondering. Though they guessed they knew the answer.

OoOoOoOoOoO


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Guest reviewer Brigitte was the first person to guess the show this is sort of based off of, Korean drama ****You're Beautiful.**** This will not be like the show, however. I will try my hardest to make it that way.**

**Anyways, I would very much appreciate it if all the readers of this story would go vote on the poll on my profile for this story. If you don't want any of the choices on it (aka a different pairing), review with your choice and I'll tally it in. Thanks!**

**Chapter 2**

The press conference went by in a blur. At least, it did for Hinata. Before she even knew what was happening, it was the after-party. And there were multiple drinks lined up in front of her.

Sasuke, Sai, and Naruto all kicked back across the table from her with their drinks in hand, drinking the faster than she would have expected or thought possible. "Here," Sasuke thrust a champagne flute towards her, but Hinata held her hand up in protest. He refused to give up on her drinking it, and eventually Hinata grabbed it to put it down on the table. Sasuke didn't even notice and eventually picked it up and drank the whole thing.

"Why aren't you having anything?" Sai's voice was crystal clear, an amazing accomplishment for someone as drunk as him—he had given up on champagne long ago and was now drinking something Hinata didn't even want to know.

"I'm not of age." She pushed away another drink offered to her, this time by a too-drunk Naruto.

"Nobody cares about that."

"Well I do." Hinata ignored the drinks placed in front of her and multiple other bad reasons why she should have them. Eventually, she gave up on ignoring and pushed an over-full flute away, knocking it over. She cleaned it up before relaxing back in her seat, knowing all three were staring at her now. "My mother was an alcoholic when I was a child. I refuse to be like her."

"One drink's not going to do anything," Sai slurred, pushing a glass into her hand.

"I said no!" The surrounding tables quieted down to only a few mumbles from those sitting there, everyone instead turning to look at the table where it seemed Neji was being harassed by the original band members. Kakashi leaned over a table divider to whisper something to the band, and they unwillingly stood and began to walk to the door leading up to the roof, Neji being the only one able to walk straight. When the door finally closed behind them, most of the people began what they were doing again, only glancing at the door a few times.

As the four walked outside, the cold air seemed to sober the band up a little, but it didn't do much. All except for Hinata walked closer to the railing and started leaning over, making jokes about the people stories below. Hinata began to wonder for a few seconds if one of them was going to go over with how far they were leaning over. Just as she went to make sure they were safe, Sasuke turned to sit on a bench, the others following behind him like lost puppies. She sighed in relief that they wouldn't fall over, but that soon changed as Sasuke whipped around to barf over the edge.

He almost lost his balance and began teetering on the edge of the bench Hinata jumped forward as to grab him just as he straightened up and turned around, sending him falling towards her now. She barely had time to register before he fell on her, his head smashing into her lip. She felt it split but just focused on keeping an unconscious Sasuke upright. Seeing his buddy in trouble seemed to sober Sai up more, and he jumped up to grab Sasuke from Hinata's arms before she fell from his weight. "_This_ is why I don't drink," she muttered as she rubbed her busted lip and chin.

"He's normally not like this." Sai's voice was completely back to normal, and Hinata saw that he didn't seem to be at all affected by the alcohol he had drunk not too long ago. A slight smile from his told her it all. _He had faked it all to see how I would react._

"I got Naruto. Just get him away for me, or he is dead meat." Sai was more than happy to comply with that, dragging the unconscious Sasuke down a different set of stairs than before. Hinata grabbed Naruto's arm and slung it over her shoulder, ignoring his drunken mumblings. When he gripped her chest, she not-so-gently pried off his hand and placed it back on her shoulder. Naruto just had a huge grin on his face and his eyes closed tightly.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Drink this." Hinata handed the mugs of tea to the three other band members sitting at the little island in the middle of the kitchen. All three were holding ice packs to their heads and accepted the drink graciously. She disappeared for a second before returning with multiple bottles of water and a container of medicine. Without a word, she doled out the pills and opened the bottles, placing the little pills in the cap before handing the out.

"Thanks." Sai seemed to be in the best shape, being the first to speak. Naruto was staring at the wall with a stupid smile on his face and completely oblivious to everything, to the point that Hinata had to pry his mouth open and place the pills inside before pouring water into his mouth, closing it and forcing him to swallow.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had his eyes closed and headphones on, although they were connected to nothing. Hinata guessed it was to block out the noise. He at least was paying a little attention and drank the tea and medicine she handed to him. "My drink was drugged."

It came out of nowhere, and Hinata and Sai both turned to face Sasuke. "Huh?"

"Last night, my drink was drugged. I tasted it." He didn't remove the headphones or open his eyes, but he seemed to be in better condition that Naruto.

"That would explain why you passed out. And why Naruto is, well, that." Sai pointed to the shell of a human that was muttering something they didn't even want to know.

"Why are you fine then?" Hinata looked at Sai curiously, before it dawned on her. "You got your own drinks."

"Exactly."

Sasuke didn't seem to be in the conversation any more, seemingly have tuned them out. However, he now took the headphones off and opened his eyes to see the two, staring deep into them. "It was the drinks meant for you, Neji. Someone wanted to drug you last night."

For knowing someone had wanted to drug her, Hinata stayed pretty calm. She didn't react to the news at all, causing Sai and Sasuke to watch her closely for any reaction.

When she didn't react, Sai was the first one to speak. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. It isn't the first time someone has tried to drug me." She rubbed her arm subconsciously as she spoke, and both band members looked to it in confusion. However, neither asked about it right then. After a few minutes of silence, Hinata looked up from her stare-down with the counter. "What do you guys want for breakfast? Pancakes? Eggs?"

"Eggs and pancakes?!" Naruto whipped around to face her, still completely out of it. "I want eggs and pancakes." He said the second sentence in complete seriousness, unlike the child-like reaction to hearing Hinata the first time. Sai and Sasuke just shrugged, so she turned to the stove and started cooking.

Before long, she was setting full plates in front of the others, with only a little for herself. Naruto dug in, but Sai and Sasuke just stared at the small plate. Hinata didn't seem to mind, and just began eating her fill. Eventually, the two gave up on figuring out the new member and just ate their own breakfasts.

"Neji?" She looked up at Sai, her fork of food still halfway to her mouth. "Can I talk with you?"

"Sure?" Sai nodded and grabbed her wrist to pull her away. Hinata stuffed the fork of food into her mouth before throwing the fork on the plate, following Sai with a mouth full of food now.

He lead her to a porch, and the two perched themselves on the wall, Hinata sitting on it and Sai leaning next to her. _I like it here. It's nice, although the others are kind of weird._ "When were you going to tell us you were a girl?" Hinata froze, almost falling off the edge of the porch wall, and Sai grabbed her waist to catch her. _Just when life was going good._


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N When I'm talking about someone not knowing Hinata "is" Neji, I'm going to refer to her as Neji when writing about her interactions with that person. Like if I'm saying Sasuke saw Hinata do something, I'll say he saw Neji do it. Okay?**

**Chapter 3**

"I-I can explain." Hinata scrambled off of the wall, not wanting to risk falling off of it again. Or having Sai grab her like that again. "But you can't tell anyone. Please."

"You'd better have a really good explanation then. I don't like lying to my friends." Sai kept the same neutral expression, but Hinata knew he really did care for them.

"You might want to sit down then." She sat down on a bench circling a tree in the middle of the porch and gestured for Sai to do the same. Eventually, he did. "I'm Neji's sister; we're twins. His manager asked me to first sign for Neji, and then to do this." She gestured to the clothing. "A cosmetic surgery he got went wrong, and he had gone to get it fixed in the US. But my brother really wanted this, so here I am, being my brother until he comes back."

"I get that you are helping your brother get what he wants, but what do you get from this?"

Hinata shrugged, honestly not knowing. "Knowing I helped my brother get what he wanted?"

That didn't seem to satisfy him. "Even though you are giving up your life for however long that takes?"

Hinata nodded. "He's my brother. No matter what he does or however long it has been since we have seen each other, I will do what I can to help and protect him. Just like you won't hurt your friends, I won't hurt my brother." Sai could see the sincerity in her eyes and he let it drop, eventually mentioning that they should go back in to finish their breakfasts. Hinata was more than happy to comply.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Tell me something about you." Sai and Hinata sat in what was now their spot on the bench around the tree, cups of tea in their hands.

"My brother always used to—what?" She stopped talking when she saw Sai shaking his head at her.

"I said about you, not your brother. You could start with your name or something." He sipped his tea, staring at her over his cup.

"Fine, but you have to tell me about you as well." He nodded slightly and she drew in a breath. "My name's Hinata. Neji's my twin, and we just so happened to look like each other. When we were younger, only our parents could tell us apart." She looked Sai in the eyes. "Your turn. Say something."

"I have a brother. He hates that I became famous and he didn't, when he was the one who had wanted to be in a band when we were younger. I'd wanted to be an artist." He stopped and glanced at his watch. "We should probably leave for practice. But we are going to continue this until I know everything about you." Hinata only nodded to him, not wanting to argue it at the moment.

"What's this practice going to be like?" The two walked through the hallways of the large building, Sai leading the way.

He only shrugged. "Whatever Sasuke wants it to be like. We just listen to him. It's better than getting him angry. Words of advice, there." He stopped and opened a door, pushing Hinata inside. "Here we are."

She looked through the glass at Sasuke tuning a guitar, two others at his feet. Naruto was doing the same with a bass guitar. Sai walked right in and picked up some drumsticks, using them to point Hinata to a keyboard. She nodded to him before walking over, slowly and softly running her hands over the keys.

Just as Sai was expecting to have to teach her how to play, she turned the keyboard on. The others stopped in the warm-ups to listen to her play, but she didn't seem to notice as she placed her hands on the keys and got ready. Seconds later, she was playing the same song Sasuke had been playing on his guitar, his own creation. A scowl appeared on his face, before it turned into a smirk as she reached the part he had reached in the song before she had started playing. However, she just continued, making it up from there. Sai joined her in the song, not stopping when Sasuke glared at him. It was only when Hinata finished that the glare stopped. "How did you learn that?"

Hinata ignored the harsh tone of his voice. "You were just playing it."

"And that's the first you've heard of it?" She nodded, and he sighed in annoyance. "How'd you play it perfectly then? Even the parts you didn't hear."

Hinata looked him straight in the eye, facing his glare off with her own. "I just played what I heard you play and continued it how I felt it should have been continued. Why is this such a problem?"

"It's my song. Don't play it unless I tell you to."

"Fine. Don't be such a baby about it." She broke his stare and turned to face Sai, dipping her head in thanks to him.

Sasuke went to say something back, only for Naruto to butt in. "So you can play anything after hear it once?"

"Most of the time." She saw his hands twitching to play something and nodded at him. "Just play already."

Naruto nodded and wasted no time in picking up a guitar from in front of Sasuke. The black haired boy only huffed in annoyance, but he paid attention to it anyways. His blonde friend started off the song, and he saw from the corner of his eye Neji nodding his head before his hands began ghosting over the keys, touching them but not pressing them down.

When Naruto finished, Hinata opened her eyes to him staring at her with excitement. "Play!"

She nodded, not responding, and started playing exactly what he had. Naruto's eyes widened when she even got down the more complex parts without having any trouble. When she finished, Sasuke stood quickly, knocking his chair over backwards. Not bothering to pick it up, he stormed out of the room. Hinata stared after him curiously. "What did I do?"

"Ignore him. He's just being pissy. Again." Sai stood from his drums to walk over to the chair Sasuke abandoned. "Do you play any other instruments?"

Hinata nodded. "Guitar and I know some on the bass. Not a lot though." Then it dawned on her that she didn't know what Neji played, other than the same three that she had listed. So she decided to cut it off there, not risking getting caught later on.

"Nice. Play something." Naruto held his guitar out to Hinata. She hesitantly took it and sat on the little stool for the keyboard. She checked the tune once again just to get used to the guitar, before going straight into a song, the one she had just played on the keyboard. Her fingers flew over the strings like an expert's and she played the song perfectly, leaving Naruto flabbergasted.

Her eyes had closed while she was playing, and she opened them once again when she finished. Something pounded on the glass window, and the three turned to see Sasuke storm out of the room next to them this time. "I'm good at screwing things up, aren't I?" All she got back was a shrug from Sai and a slight smile from Naruto. "I'll take that as a yes. What's his favorite food? Or drink?"

"Rice balls with okaka and tomatoes. Nothing sweet." Naruto said it casually, as if it was perfectly normal to know that off the top of his head.

"And your favorite food?" Hinata prayed it something easy to make, but with the way her day was going, it didn't seem like it would be.

"Ramen!" His eyes flew wide open and he began rubbing his stomach. "Aw, now I want ramen. Do we have any instant left?" Sai nodded and Naruto's mood brightened.

He went to walk past Hinata, but she grabbed his arm quickly. "Do you want instant ramen right now, or wait a little for homemade?"

"Nobody here can make homemade and I don't feel like going out." He stomped his foot, before freezing, foot mid-air to stomp again, and turned to the new member. "Neji, can you make ramen from scratch?"

Hinata just nodded, wondering what she was getting herself into.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hinata placed the bowl of freshly made ramen in front of Naruto, barely waiting to hear his reaction. "This tastes like Ichiraku Ramen!"

She froze, the tray with Sasuke's food almost falling from her hands, and slowly turned back around to face Naruto. "You know Ichiraku Ramen?"

"Yeah, I went there when I was little!" Hinata's mind went back to when she was just starting to live with the family running the place, to her first days in the shop. And to the little blonde boy, only two years older than her, who came every single day. "The son of an important person," Ayame would always tell her. "He eats free."

"No way." She placed the tray back down and slowly walked back towards Naruto. He was stuffing himself with the ramen, and she could picture the days when he did the very same thing in the shop. "No freaking way. You were the kid who ate free. Son of the important person."

Naruto finally stopped eating to look up to Hinata. "Huh? How do you know that?" He shook his head, before his eyes widened too. "The little girl…"

"That was my twin sister." Hinata crossed her fingers behind her back, counting all the lies she was forced to tell with this. _It hasn't even been a week and one of them knows. And another just almost found out._ "That's how I learned to cook ramen like them."

Before she knew what was happening, Naruto was hugging her. "Make ramen for me every day! Please!"

"No." Hinata didn't even bother making it sound nice, and she shook the boy off. Seeing his depressed look, she sighed. "I'll make it for you every week." That done, she wasted no time getting away from his celebration, grabbing the tray for Sasuke on the way.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Sasuke? I brought you some lunch." Hearing no reply, Hinata sighed and placed the tray down beside the door. Slowly, she backed away, before turning and leaving. A few seconds after she was gone, Sasuke opened the door and grabbed the tray of food, pulling it inside greedily with a slight smirk on his face when he realized what it was. Just behind the corner of the stairs, Hinata gave a slight smile behind her hands before continuing the rest of the way down silently.

Hinata returned to the practice room and wasn't surprised to find it empty. Smiling, she slipped inside and only turned on one of the lights, locking the door behind her. Alone, she looked around the room at the variety of instruments, before picking up a pair of drumsticks from the floor. Glancing around one last time as if to make sure she truly was alone, she walked silently to the drums before sitting on the small seat. After a few seconds in silence, she began to play them, softly at first, before falling into the music and playing with her whole body and spirit. Outside the glass, Sasuke stood watching silently, shaking his head at the younger member. _Maybe this new kid won't be so bad after all._

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Neji." She looked up at Sasuke, and even Naruto and Sai glanced at the leader curiously. "Play this." He tossed a bunch of papers in a booklet at her, and Hinata barely caught it.

She opened it to glance over the song, and noticed it was all handwritten. "Did you write this?"  
"Yeah." He shrugged. "Last night. Just play it. I need to hear how it goes." Surprised at the sudden change in his attitude, Hinata complied, setting the keyboard to sound like a guitar as quick as she could.

She started slowly, before stopping. "This is going to be way too slow."

"Then play it how you think it should go." He nodded for her to start again, and Hinata did. She started slow again, but picked up the speed soon. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, and he mumbled something along the lines of "Why didn't I think of that?"

Hinata didn't seem to hear him over the music and continued without a reaction. When she finally hit the last note, she opened her eyes, never realizing that she had closed them. The room was silent, and Sasuke was looking right at her. Only, it wasn't a look of hate this time. "Can you play it again? But record it this time."

Hinata nodded and looked down at the keyboard, looking for the record button. Knowing she couldn't find it, Sai leaned over her silently and pointed to it, scaring Hinata. She jumped slightly, before muttering a thanks and placing her hand over the button. After a second, she pressed it and began again. Naruto and Sai could only watch the two in front of them with surprise; Sasuke rarely even brought his songs to them, but here he was having the newest member help him after only one day. _Something is special about this Neji._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Here." Naruto not-so-gently placed an apple in Hinata's hands. "It's the best one. Sai said you like apples."

A ghost of a smile made its way onto Hinata's face at the last comment. _I just told him that little over an hour ago and he already told Naruto._ "Thanks. What's it for?" She bit into it as she looked up from her music sheets before her and to Naruto.

"You made me ramen. And Sasuke his favorite food. And you got him to smile. So I'm going to give you all the best apples since you like them so much." Naruto gave one last smile before turning to walk away. However, he stopped mid-step suddenly and turned back around to face Hinata. "Neji?"

"Hm?" She didn't look up from the papers this time, focusing intently on them as she nibbled on the apple.

"Is that Sasuke's song?" Naruto inched closer to look at it over Hinata's shoulder.

"Yeah. He asked me to help write the piano part." She seemed to catch something and scribbled down some notes inside her own music book before grabbing her phone and unlocking the screen, revealing a piano onscreen. "What do you think of this?" She entered a few more notes that went over Naruto's head before hitting play and letting music fill the space between the two. Before Naruto knew it, he was closing his eyes, falling into the music. Hinata smirked at the boy in front of her as he did so but otherwise did not react, still holding the phone playing the music and eating her apple slowly with the other hand.

When the music stopped, Naruto opened his eyes again and focused right on Hinata. "How do you write stuff like that so easily?!"

She only shrugged. "So it was good?"  
"Good? It was great! Amazing! You're just like Sasuke!" Naruto leaned back on the bench, and watched as Hinata scribbled some more on her papers, going back and forth between what Sasuke wrote and what she was working on now.

"Naruto? You play guitar too, right?" He nodded enthusiastically. "Do you think you could play this with me?" She handed him the papers from Sasuke and he looked it over quickly.

"Sure. When?"

"Soon. Tonight?" Hinata bit into the apple one last time before throwing to core over the edge of the porch they were on.

"Hey! Who threw that?!" The two couldn't even bother trying to hold back their laughter at the poor man below, instead letting it out. Hinata calmed down first and watch curiously as Naruto continued to laugh like a little kid.

Finally, he calmed down too except for a stray chuckle every now and then. "So, tonight in the practice room?"

"Sure. I'll see you there." Naruto took the music from Hinata and stood, waving as he walked away, leaving Hinata alone on the bench. Inside the house, Sai backed away from the window in the living room with a neutral look on his face. A floor above him, however, Sasuke was watching with a look of curiosity.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Hold on, Naruto. Play it like this." Hinata stood and grabbed a different guitar from the rack, sitting down across from Naruto. Showing to him what she was doing and explaining it, she played the part slowly, before playing it again full speed. When Naruto got it, she smiled and returned to the keyboard. Together, the two played again, and by the end, Hinata had a smile on her face that was the largest Naruto had seen on her yet. "That was it. Thanks Naruto." She dipped her head to him before grabbing the papers he held out to her. "I have to go give this to Sasuke!"

Naruto could only watch as Hinata walked out of the room a little faster than normal, a smile on her face. "You can come out now, Sai."

The normally apathetic member cursed under his breath as he straightened, only feet from the door in the watching room. "How did you know I was here?"

"I saw you moving your head to the beat, and your skin is so pale it stands out even in darkness." Naruto kicked back in the chair, playing around on the guitar a little. "So why were you watching us?"

Sai didn't bother answering, instead just walking out of the room. Naruto could only smirk at the reaction. "And I thought the rumors of you being gay were false…" He went to stand, before something dawned on him. "If Neji is 15 and Sai is 19, then…" As the thought crossed his mind, Naruto fake gagged in disgust. "Nice thoughts. Pretty thoughts. Soft kitty, warm kitty, purr purr purr." And so, continuing the song he had heard on some American show, Naruto walked out of the room, his eyes unfocused as he pet an imaginary cat in his arms.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I heard you and Naruto playing. You're pretty good." Hinata held back her jump at Sai speaking behind her. He leaned on the porch railing next to her, staring into the nighttime city with her. "You're also probably the only one to have patience with Naruto. He took over an hour to get it right."

"He's good. It was more my fault than anything. I barely gave him time to practice it or even learn the song." Hinata shrugged, looking out at the city lights and the people walking around. "Do you ever wish you weren't famous?" It was such a sudden question that Sai was surprised, his eyes widening slightly.

"Yeah," he schooled his expression back into place. "Sometimes. Sometimes I feel like someone else deserves to be here more than I do. Why do you ask?"

"Did you know I was accepted into SM Entertainment after practicing for years to be good enough?" She dodged his question, but Sai let her continue how she wanted to. "I had to give it up for this. But now, I'm starting to question if I was even meant to go there. I mean, it hasn't even been a week here but I feel like I'm going to burst from all the stress of being in a band and having to plan for concerts that I won't even be performing in and for photo shoots and, and, and… Am I wrong for thinking this would have been easy at first?" Her eyes were watery and Sai was once again surprised, never having expected the strong girl he knew to break down like this. "Being with Naruto, it made me realize that you have to work hard for a band and that it more than just practicing. I lost 5 pounds just from dance training today! I expected it to be tough, but nowhere near what it is!" The tears started to flow down her face, and Sai wasn't quite sure what to do. But at the sight of Hinata so fragile before him, he did the one thing that came to mind and gently wrapped his arms around the small girl, letting her sink into his larger frame as his mother had done so many years ago to him. As she sobbed, he gently began petting her hair, stroking it to calm her.

When she finally calmed down, Hinata leaned into Sai more, just liking having someone be there for once. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

He said nothing, just letting Hinata be. The two stood like that until their legs grew tired and then longer. And if you looked in the doorway, just behind the curtain, you would have seen Naruto frozen in place, staring at the two, a bowl of now-melted ice cream in his hand and a surprised look frozen on his face.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Okay, what the hell is wrong with all of you?" Sasuke put his guitar down to look around at the other band members. "Did I miss something? Cause all of you are acting funny." Hinata just looked down at the keyboard while Sai just gave a smirk. Naruto looked between the two, giving Sasuke a hint to it, at least. He stood without warning and closed the door, locking it. After a few seconds of playing with the lock, he pulled off the piece for anyone to grab and stuffed it into his front pocket. "None of you are going to try and take that now, are you?" They all shook their heads. "Good. Now spill."

"Sai was hugging Neji!" Naruto pointed at the drummer, his eyes wide as he wasted no time in telling Sasuke what he saw. "The rumors are true!"

Sasuke only sighed before turning to the two mentioned by the blonde. "Either of you care to explain what he is talking about?" Neither of them spoke up, and Sasuke turned to the keyboardist. "Neji? If you don't tell me, I'm kicking you out of the band." He knew that would draw a reaction and wasn't surprised when he finally looked up and glanced at Sai before opening his mouth.

"I had a breakdown last night and Sai happened to see me. Ask him why he hugged me if you really want to know, I honestly don't know." Sasuke sighed at turned to the last one to speak.

"He's like a little brother and he was freaking out at the edge of the porch. For all I knew, he was going to kill himself right in front of me." He shrugged. "No big deal. Can we go now?"

Sasuke knew he wasn't getting the full story but he let it slide. "Sure." He tried to put the piece back into the lock, only it wouldn't fit back in. After some curse words and hitting it a few times, he looked up to a wide-eyed Naruto, Sai looking at him curiously, and Neji trying not to laugh. Ignoring them, he sat back down. "Someone will come eventually who can fix it."

"But I'm hungry!" Naruto whined like a little kid, only to stop at Sasuke's glare.

"Since we are stuck here, let's work on the song. Neji, play what you wrote." Hinata nodded and began playing, Sasuke joining when it came to his part. When they finished, Sasuke turned to the others. "Think you can come up with your parts?" They both nodded and he gave a rare slight-smile. "Good. Neji and I are working on lyrics."

"We are?" Hinata was surprised at the news, but saw Sasuke's smirk at her.

"We are. You are a second singer, are you not?" She nodded and he threw a pencil at her from somewhere. "Then start helping me with your lyrics."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Get us out of here! We've been here for 2 hours!" Naruto threw himself on the ground. "We are all going to die in here!"

"Shut up! Kakashi is supposed to be coming soon. And we used the time to finish the song anyways."Sasuke kicked Naruto to get him up. "If you want to get out, climb through the vent." The blonde seemed to perk up and started looking at the vent in the ceiling. "Don't actually do it."

Naruto just fell back onto the ground with an ungraceful thump. Hinata stood and walked over to Sasuke, holding her hand out to him. He glanced at it suspiciously. "What?"

"Give me the piece you tore off the door." He reached into his pocket and pulled it out, dropping the small piece of metal into the outstretched hand. Hinata said nothing else as she walked over to the door and crouched to be eye-level with the lock. Reaching into her own pocket, she pulled out a small hairpin and unbent it before putting an end in her mouth and yanking to pull the plastic knob off the end. The three guys watched curiously as she stuck it into the lock and twisted it, her tongue sticking out in concentration as she twisted and moved it until it caught. When it finally did, she smiled and popped the door open. "Out you go, Naruto."

The blonde boy dove out of the room, running as fast as he could. As soon as he was out of the way, Hinata crouched back down and put the lock back on easily. "Wha—if you could do that, why didn't you just fix it before?"

Hinata just shrugged to Sasuke. "That would have been no fun though. You never really know a person until you're locked in a room with them with no escape for two hours." Without saying anything else, she walked out, leaving Sai and Sasuke alone. The drummer shrugged when Sasuke turned to him for an answer. Together, they left the room that was their torture for the past two hours, trying to figure out the logic behind keeping them in there. And every time, they just came up blank.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Why didn't you unlock the door earlier if you could do it so easy?" Sai handed Hinata a cup of tea as he sat beside her, watching the sun set with her.  
She shrugged. "I was bored. I wanted to see how the three of you would react." Sipping the tea, she glanced at Sai. "My father's in jail."

"Huh?" The statement caught him off guard, and Sai almost dropped his cup of tea at the sudden and serious fact.

"Every time we sit here, we tell each other at least one fact about ourselves. So that was mine." Hinata turned back to looking at the sunset, enjoying the last few minutes of light.

"Oh." Sai swirled the little tea left in his cup, thinking. "I don't really talk to my family anymore. Most of them hate me or only like me because I'm famous." He shrugged off the serious topic, instead trying to brighten the mood. "I looked into the whole SM Entertainment thing some more for you. I might be able to get you back into it."

Hinata's eyes widened a fraction of an inch, but Sai caught it. "You don't have to worry about that. Asuma promised me he would make up for me missing out on it. And last I heard from him, he was cursing me out because he was in Korea and the food there made him sick. So I figure he is trying to work something out now." A smile slowly appeared on her face as she thought back to the conversation she had with the manager. "But even if I don't get back in, I won't be all that upset." The sun set and Hinata continued to stare at the sky as she spoke. "As much as I wish I were, I am spending time in a band here for my brother. And I don't think my messed up family can stand more than one famous person at the moment, especially when we are twins and look so similar." She gave a slight smile, imagining what it would be like if the two of them were famous. "If I have to go back to working at a ramen shop for the rest of my school life, I'll be fine."

Sai just looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Just tell me one thing, and speak honestly. Do you want to be famous?"

Hinata shrugged again. "It was never about being famous for me. It was about playing music and playing music I liked with people I liked. If being famous came along with that, I would take it. But I'm not going out of my way for fame." When the breeze picked up, she finally stood. "I'm going inside. It's chilly out." Sai only nodded, half listening. He was still stuck on what she had said before about being famous. _That's an interesting way to think of it. Even I had some thoughts of doing it for fame when I was playing._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"Neji!" Naruto jogged up behind Hinata after she stopped to wait for him. "We have to go meet Kakashi. He says it's important."

She nodded to him, not bothering to speak as they began to walk through the twisting halls to the meeting room. It was only the second day she had been in the main company building, but Hinata knew it would be impossible to learn the hallways. How anyone got around without getting lost was a mystery to her.

They were the last two to arrive, so Hinata and Naruto took their seats as the group waited for Kakashi, the notoriously late band manager. However, the wait was less than 5 minutes, already telling them it was important. "I might as well get right to the point. You guys have a concert in three days. It was decided that Neji was already good enough for this first concert, and it's now out of my control. And Neji, when I tried to contact your manager, he said something about being in Korea, so it's all up to me and those above me now." He shrugged and stood. "You can go back to what you were doing, but I recommend you all practice some more." Wanting nothing more than to read his book and having nothing else to say, Kakashi left, leaving the band alone in the room.

Hinata was terrified. No, that didn't even begin to cover how she felt. But she held it all in and kept her expression neutral, acting completely apathetic. _Asuma, you said I wouldn't have to do anything more than practice and live with them._

Sai knew Hinata was scared out of her mind, but he too acted like it was nothing. "You better practice hard, Neji." He spoke like he didn't really care, but when Hinata met his eyes, she could tell it was the complete opposite.

"We all should practice. It's our first concert as a group of four." Sasuke looked around the table, meeting the eyes of all of them as he spoke. "We cannot screw this up. You cannot screw this up, Neji." Hinata nodded to him, and he smirked. "Then why are we all still sitting here?"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Deep breaths Hinata, deep breaths." She leaned on the glass surrounding the little outcropping off of the building the concert was in. The makeup and hair was already done, so Hinata paid extra attention to not mess it up as she tried to calm herself down._ Good luck with the makeup, Neji. Have fun with it._

When a hand was suddenly on her shoulder, Hinata yelped and jumped back, her body reacting instinctively to try and punch the person. Naruto caught the punch, completely prepared for it after all the times he hadn't been. "Got you this time." He let go of Hinata's hand and leaned on the glass where she had been seconds before. "Nervous? Scared?"

Hinata could only nod, trying to calm her heartbeat as much as her nerves now. "Don't be. You're good, better than any of us were when we first performed on a stage as a group. But I guess I can't talk." He shrugged, talking to both himself and Hinata. "I was scared out of my mind my first concert. I was so nervous that I was sweating and making my makeup run, my clothes were sticking to me, and my hair was all ruined." He gave a slight smile at the memory. "I made so many mistakes that night. But I have faith in you. We all do. And it's normal to be nervous, we all are still. Even Sasuke, although he would never admit it."

Hinata realized his rambling was on purpose, that he was trying to distract her from thinking about being on stage, and flashed him a smile in thanks. Suddenly, Naruto reached into a bag he was carrying and pulled out something. Hinata grabbed it from him and saw a perfect apple in her hands. "Eating something always helps. As long as you don't have a weak stomach for nerves, then you'll just puke it up on stage. And that would be worse."

"Thank you." She gladly bit into the apple, eating it quickly before they went on stage. Naruto was right, it did help, and she was grateful for the tip. Not that she would need it for long.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Are you ready?!" Hinata had never seen this side of Sasuke before, the carefree, loud, seemingly happy side. But she could tell that it was a mask. At least, some of it was. And the rest came from his joy of singing, nothing else. But it surprised Hinata, the Sasuke she now saw on stage.

Trying to hide her nerves in the back of her mind, Hinata focused on the music, waiting for when she would come in. Her fingers were flying across the keys on their own, and she was glad that was one less thing she would need to think about. For most of the concert, that was how it was. She didn't have to think about anything, it just came naturally. The nerves faded quickly, and Hinata found herself enjoying being on the stage in front of everyone, playing music as she had always wanted to do.

"How about one last special song?" The crowd roared to answer Sasuke and he gave a slight chuckle. "You all know Neji, right?" Hinata raised her hand in a slight wave, surprised by the load screams that came from the simple statement. She knew her cue and grabbed a guitar from next to her keyboard, confusing both Naruto and Sai; neither had any idea what Sasuke and Hinata had planned. "Well, he's going to play some guitar for us."

A tech person ran out with another microphone, setting it close to Sasuke. Hinata adjusted the strap of the guitar as she walked up. "Hi." The crowd roared at the single word, much louder than they had for Sasuke. "I hope you guys like this. Sasuke and I stayed up most of last night to write this for you all." She turned to Sasuke and he nodded. Hinata started on her own guitar before Sasuke's joined in. He started the singing and the crowd fell silent, completely under a spell.

[Sasuke]Minna ga urayamu kanpeki na special lady  
Dare yori mo kitto shiawase to  
sekai no doko ni mo kawari wa inai yo  
Kimi wa boku ni dake no everything  
[Both]Yasashisugi takaraka osanai kara ka  
[Hinata]kimi no sono taido ga subete kataru  
[Both]And I think I'm gonna hate it girl, kitto nagaku nai  
[Hinata]kitdzuiteru kedo muki aenai  
[Sasuke]Nani wo shitemo (boku no kokoro wa)  
Mou (todokanai no ka)  
[Both] Replay Replay Replay, omoide ga  
Zutto (boku no kokoro wo)  
Motto (itametsukeru yo)  
Replay Replay Replay  
[Hinata]So you're my MVP, mainichi ga mitasarete  
atsumatta attention kimi to iru to feel so good  
mou kono te wo hanasanai sou itta kedo  
itsu kara darou mou onaji you ni (omowa nainda)  
[Both]Yasashisugi takaraka osanai kara ka  
[Sasuke]sono kuuki kan de subete wakatta  
[Both]And I think I'm gonna hate it girl, kitto nagaku nai  
[Hinata]demo mata kimi wo sagashiteru  
[Sasuke]Nani wo shitemo (boku no kokoro wa)  
Mou (todokanai no ka)  
[Both] Make up, Shake up, Break up  
Zutto (boku no kokoro wo)  
Motto (itametsukeru yo)  
Make up, Shake up, Break up  
[Both]Ah ah ah, kimi wa konna ni  
Ah ah ah, kirei na no ni  
Hontou no ai wa mada shiranai hazu nanda yo  
Ah ah ah, boku ga kimi ni  
Ah ah ah, ataetai kedo  
Hontou no kimochi wa tsutawara nakute  
Nani wo shitemo (boku no kokoro wa)  
Mou (todokanai no ka)  
Replay Replay

([Hinata]I need a) Replay  
Zutto (boku no kokoro wo)  
Motto (itametsukeru yo)  
Replay Replay Replay  
Nani wo shitemo (boku no kokoro wa)  
mou (todokanai no ka)  
Replay Replay Replay  
([Sasuke]I- I- I love you, girl~)  
zutto (boku no kokoro wo)  
motto (itametsukeru yo)  
Replay Replay Replay  
([Hinata]I- I- I love you, girl~)  
Nani wo shitemo (you and me, girl)  
(I keep thinking 'bout you) You and me, girl  
(Keep think 'bout you) Hey, girl~ ([Hinata]Otherwise)  
[Sasuke]You don't know what is love, I will give it to you  
Nani wo shitemo (you and me, girl)  
(I keep thinking 'bout you) You and me, girl  
(Keep think 'bout you) Hey, girl~  
[Sasuke]You don't know what is love, I will give it to you  
[Hinata]You drive me crazy

The crowd was completely silent for a second, before the screams pierced through it, louder than either had heard before. Naruto had a huge smile on his face, and even Sai had a little upturning of his lips. "Thank you all!" Hinata's yelled ended the stage and the lights cut out, making it pitch black for a few seconds. And in those few seconds, they ran off so by the time lights came back on, they were gone.

It was definitely the best first concert Hinata could have asked for.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"You were pretty good." Hinata didn't react when Sai sat next to her on the bench, still staring at the starless sky. "When did you and Sasuke write the song?"

"I wrote it last night. I brought it to him when he was still practicing and we decided to play it together." She shrugged, ignoring the mug of tea next to her. "Are there ever any stars in the sky here?"

"Sometimes." Hinata sighed at the answer, and Sai noticed her mood drop. Without warning, he stood and grabbed her hand, dragging her down the steps.

"H-hey! Where are you taking me?!" She tripped on the stairs and barely caught herself, but Sai didn't stop.

"To see the stars." He stopped at a car and opened the door for Hinata to get in. She did so hesitantly, a little afraid of exactly where Sai was taking her. He left little time for questions, instead turning on the radio as soon as the car was on. Hinata was surprised when the music that came through the speakers was not from their own band, or even the same type of music. Instead, it was a lone piano playing one long piece.

As Sai pulled out, it clicked to Hinata. "Is this you playing?" Sai nodded slightly, and Hinata's eyes widened. "You're really good."

"I played the keyboard as well as the drums before you came." He shrugged, focusing on the road and letting Hinata listen to the rest of the piece. It finished just as they pulled up to an abandoned park. He shut the car off and quickly got out to open Hinata's door for her.

Without speaking, he grabbed her hand again and led her to the top of a hill. A lone bench sat under a tree with nothing else around. The two sat down and Sai pointed to the sky. From the top of the hill, all the stars lighting up the sky were visible and bright.

But to Sai, the look on Hinata's face when she saw them was brighter.

**A/N I know, short and a lot of it is the song. You can all hate me or you can wait for the next chapter. But I hope it is the second one.**

**The song is Reply by SHINee, Japanese version (I believe, it's a while since I wrote this). The song belongs to SHINee and SM Entertainment and their Japanese label that I forget. But you should go check them out. It's the band I normally listen to while writing, along with F(x), Super Junior, FT Island, and CN Blue. All really good bands that you should check out.**

**Anyways, that about it. Bye!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Before I forget… Ages of characters:**

**Naruto/Sai-19**

**Sasuke-20**

**Hinata/Neji-15, almost 16**

**Kurenai/Asuma/Kakashi-late 20s, early 30s**

**Chapter 6**

Hinata stumbled down the stairs, tripping constantly from the darkness of the hallway. That would have been pretty normal, for her to be up and walking around, had it not been two in the morning. Finally reaching the bottom of the steps, she steadied herself before walking towards the kitchen. But just a few steps up stood Sasuke, staring at Hinata curiously.

Hinata reached the fridge and pulled it open while Sasuke still stood a few steps behind her, completely silent. She reached in for a water bottle, only to drop it as soon as she'd closed the fridge. Sasuke picked up the rolling bottle and held it out to Hinata. "What are you doing?"

"I don't feel so good…" Hinata opened the bottle and took a little sip before falling, fainting right in front of Sasuke. He barely caught her before she hit the ground.

Taking the open bottle from her hand, he placed it on the counter before picking her up bridal style. As he did so, his hand hit her chest and his eyes widened, but he had no other reaction; all of his thoughts were on making sure Hinata was fine, and she sure didn't look it right then. Sasuke carried her to her room and laid her on the bed, tucking her in. As soon as she was safely in bed, Sasuke turned and ran out of the room, running across the building to Sai's room. Without knocking or anything, he barged in to the drummer's room, the door slamming against the wall. "Sai, get up. Neji's sick."

The younger boy woke from his door slamming open, but that sentence got him jumping out of bed. Before he could say anything, Sasuke was already walking out of the room, leading the way. Sai followed after him quickly, not even bothering to put on a shirt, leaving him only in black and red pajama pants. "What happened?"

"He fainted. I'd heard him falling down the stairs so I followed him then he fainted in the kitchen." They passed the kitchen and Sai quickly grabbed a bowl of ice water and the thermometer. Sasuke, following Sai's directions, grabbed the water bottle and a small towel before the two went to Hinata's room.

As soon as Sai saw Hinata lying in the bed so sick looking, he went to work taking her temperature. When it got close to 104 he cursed. Sasuke glanced at it before putting the towel in the ice water and laying it on Hinata's head. She shivered from the cold slightly, but otherwise didn't react, still completely out of it. "We should be taking her to the hospital," Sai muttered under his breath, watching her in the sickness induced sleep.

"So I was right." Sasuke stated it simply and watched as Sai barely reacted. "Neji's a girl."

"Now's not the time for this." Sai sighed before changing his position from crouching next to Hinata's bed to sitting on the floor. "But kind of. She's his sister."

"So you knew." Sai only nodded, still watching Hinata. "Give me one reason I shouldn't tell this to Kakashi and everyone."

"Because she is only doing it for her brother. He had to get a surgery corrected in the States and his manager tracked her down to have her act like him. She ended up giving up her life and things she had been waiting years for to act like her brother so that he could do what he wanted. She is so devoted to a brother she hasn't even seen in years that she would give up everything about her for him. It is rare to find someone like that." Sai finally looked up from Hinata's face to stare at Sasuke while he spoke, staring the older member down. "If you get her kicked out, I will leave as well."

"You like her." Again, it wasn't a question, but a simple statement. Sai could only nod, not trusting his voice to answer. Sasuke sighed at the answer. "Fine. But if this starts to get out, I'm not helping either of you out of the hole you are digging."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Hello?" Naruto walked around the large house, completely lost when he couldn't find anyone. He looked like a kid lost in a store without their parents. "Sasuke? Sai? Neji? Are any of you here?"

When he got no reply, tears started to well in his eyes. "What if the end of the world came? Am I the only survivor? Or what if a crazed fan came and kidnapped them? Or what if this isn't actually our house and I was the one kidnapped? Or if-"

"What are you babbling about?" Sasuke walked down the staircase, stopping to stare at Naruto curled in a ball at the bottom. "Are you crying?"

"Sasuke!" He flung himself at the older boy, clinging to him.

"Um, yeah. Can you let go of me? I have to get something for Neji." He tried to shake Naruto off, but the younger only clung tighter. Sighing, he began to walk, dragging the boy with every step. "Naruto. Get off of me."

The blonde finally did, fixing his nightcap that started to slide from everything. "What are you getting?"

"Crackers and soda. Neji's sick." He grabbed the two things and started to walk back to the room, only for Naruto to follow him. "Trust me and stay down here. He's really sick."

"Oh…" Naruto watched the raven haired boy go back up the steps, before turning around. "I should make Neji some soup!"

"Naruto, no!" Sasuke's shout from upstairs didn't stop Naruto as he started to gather random items from the kitchen and put them next to a pot of water that was starting to boil. Sasuke could only sigh as he heard the boy continuing below him.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I brought Neji soup." Naruto stood outside Neji's room, face to face with Sasuke stopping him from going in.

"Naruto, if Neji wasn't sick, your soup would make him." Sasuke knew it was cruel, but it was true. The thing in the bowl was black and purple and he swore something was moving in it.

"No, it's really good! See!" He went to eat a spoonful, but Sasuke quickly grabbed it from him.

"I don't trust it and we don't need you sick too. Go dump that down the sink or something. Or feed it to a plant and watch it die." Sasuke turned heel and walked back into Hinata's room, closing and locking the door behind him. Naruto stood there for a few seconds longer before walking back to the kitchen and dumping the soup on a plant to "make it feel better." What was supposed to be soup only gathered on top of the soil, not even sinking in. Naruto just shrugged and placed the bowl in the sink. With nothing else to do, he sat down in front of the television and turned it on to videos from the beginning of the band. In a few minutes, he had completely forgotten that Neji was sick.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Is she any better?" Sasuke glanced at the thermometer Sai had just pulled from Hinata's mouth before sighing. Still the same. "Shouldn't it have at least gone down?"

"Not if it was still rising. Then it would just balance out. Can you go get a fever reducer or something?" Sai wiped the thermometer before putting it back, grabbing the water bottle and opening Hinata's mouth a little. He poured the slightest amount in just to get some water in her body.

"Where is it?" Sasuke stood to go get the medicine, but Sai shook his head.

"We don't have any after the Naruto candy accident. You'd have to run out to a store to get it." He glanced at Sasuke, who froze in place at that. "Do you want me to go?"

Sasuke shook his head. "I'll do it." Without another word, he walked out of the room and quickly changed in his own across the hall, grabbing a hooded sweatshirt, sunglasses, and a hat on his way out. Naruto didn't even glance up from the show when Sasuke walked past.

"Maybe I shouldn't have sent him… He always fears going out in public because of the fans…" Sai started to think about that before his attention turned to Hinata as she began to stir.

Her eyes opened slowly and she looked around before they landed on Sai. "Um… hi?" He couldn't help the little smile that appeared, of all things to say when she first woke up, it was that.

"How are you feeling?" Hinata tried to sit up and Sai gently helped her before handing her the water bottle without her needing to ask for it.

"Like crap." She gulped the water greedily and finished the whole bottle in seconds.

"Yeah, well that is to be expected." Hinata grabbed a cracker from his hands while looking at him to continue. "You fainted while getting water in the middle of the night."

"Oh…" She nibbled the slightest bit of the cracker before turning even paler and putting it back on the table. "Why were you up in the middle of the night?"

"I wasn't. Sasuke woke from you falling on the stairs." Hinata's eyes widened at that as she looked around to make sure she wasn't missing him being in there too. "He went out to get you some medicine right before you woke up."

"Oh." She yawned, her eyelids starting to droop.

"Go back to sleep. I'll wake you when he comes back." She only nodded as she slid back down, too tired to do much more. As she started to go to sleep, Sai's eyes softened. _Hinata, he found out. I'm sorry._

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Here's the medicine." Sasuke shoved the bottle into Sai's hands. "Next time, you're going for it."

"I offered to." He shrugged to Sasuke before placing the bottle on the table and leaning down to whisper something in Hinata's ear. She slowly woke up, her eyes opening to see Sasuke and then closing again.

Then it registered exactly who was in front of her and her eyes flew wide open as she shot up. "S-Sasuke." Her voice was raspy and she took the bottle of water Sai handed to her. "Sorry about this morning. Sai told me."

Sasuke didn't say anything about it, instead looking over her a little. "Are you feeling better?"

She shook her head, before stopping from a head-rush. "Not really. But thanks for the medicine." As she said that, Sai handed her the dosage to take and she did so easily.

"I have something to ask you." Sasuke sat down on the chair he had been sitting on throughout the morning. Hinata looked at him, her eyes telling him to speak. "When were you going to tell us you are a girl?" Hinata's mind flashed to when Sai had asked her the exact same question and froze thinking of how he figured it out. Sai's eyes widened and he cursed inside his head. _You can't even let her get over being sick, can you?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Hinata turned to face Sai, only for Sasuke to grab her shoulder, stopping her from saying anything. "He didn't tell me anything until I said I knew you were a girl. Now answer me, when were you planning on telling us?"

She sighed and leaned back. It was silent for a few seconds and Sai was the one to finally break it. "Sasuke, she's sick. Talk about this when-"

"No. If he wants to know, I'll tell him." Hinata cut in, apologizing to Sai with her eyes. "I wasn't planning on telling any of you. My brother was going to come back and take my place right where I left off, and none of you were going to know until after I was gone, if at all. I guess that didn't go as planned." She rested her head in her hands. "Asuma's going kill me. He leaves for a week and I screw this up."

Neither of the boys said anything, instead just exchanging a glance. "What are we doing today? I can't just lie here all day." Hinata went to stand, only to almost fall when she finally did. Sai and Sasuke both reached forward to steady her, but she managed to do so herself. "I'm fine."

"We were just going to practice today. But you have to get better quick, we have a photoshoot tomorrow." Sai grabbed her arm and slung it over his shoulder to help her walk out of the room. Hinata nodded to him, not bothering to speak again as they left her room.

Soon they were in the living room, and Naruto still didn't look up from the television as Hinata sat on the couch behind him. "What are you watching?"

"Videos from when we were first a band." It took a few seconds to realize who talked to him, and when he finally did he paused the show and whipped around. "Neji! Are you better?"

"I'm fine." She shrugged off all of his attempts to see if she really was, before finally nodding to the show. "Is that Sasuke?"

"Yeah!" She looked at the teenager about her age, standing awkwardly in nice pants and a button-up and staring at the person before him with disbelief on his face. Naruto played the video and she watched as he was forced to do all the strange tasks, his expression darkening with each one.

"Do you guys go on shows like this anymore?" While it was funny, Hinata was more worried about having to do something like the radish challenge Sasuke had done, or possibly even something worse.

"Sometimes. Sasuke normally doesn't come. And Sai does sometimes…" Naruto stared off into space, thinking about it. "I normally go on alone." He pouted as he realized that fact. "Neji! Will you go on some with me?"

"Maybe." Seeing his mood depress, she immediately felt bad. "I'll go on the next one with you."

"Really?" She nodded. "Yay!"

"Good luck." Sai appeared from the kitchen, a bowl of simple soup on a tray in his hands. He gave it to Hinata before sitting next to her. "You're going to need it."

Hinata ignored the fear in her throat from the comment and began to eat the soup slowly. "This is really good. Thank you." Sai only nodded, before looking at a plant near the bottom of the stairs.

"Naruto? Did you happen to dump your soup on a plant?" The boy nodded, not looking away from the television. "Was it the plant at the bottom of the stairs?" Again he nodded. "Good thing Sasuke wouldn't let you eat that." Sai pointed the now-dead plant out to Hinata, and the girl barely held in her laughter at the sight. "It was for you."

That stopped Hinata's laughing short and her eyes widened. "Thank you Sasuke!"

A muffled reply came and all three turned to see Sasuke struggling with a sweatshirt trying to not mess up his hair. Sai stood to help him, while Hinata smirked at the scene. "You're such a girl. You couldn't just mess up your hair."

"Look who's talking. You spend like an hour on your hair." Sasuke and Hinata stared each other down, both in good humor. It was Sasuke who finally broke it first, muttering something about creepy pale eyes.

Hinata smirked at the win, leaning back in the seat. "It's a sad day when someone who is sick can beat you in a stare down."

"I let you win, kid." Sasuke sat down before glancing at what was on the screen. "Turn this off."

"No. It's pretty funny. How did that radish taste, by the way?" Hinata stuck her tongue out at Sasuke, enjoying his pained look. He muttered something and she cupped her hand around her ear. "Huh? Didn't quite catch that."

"It was bad. Don't bring it up." Something seemed to pass through his eyes as he realized it. "Are you planning on doing one of those?"

"He promised to go on the next on with me!" Naruto smiled at Hinata before turning back to Sasuke, smile completely gone. "He's much nicer than you."

"They had me kiss multiple random guys for fans. Don't be talking about those shows." Hinata barely held in her laugh at that, snorting when she tried to do so. Sasuke glared at her for real this time and she held her hands up in surrender. "Anyways, good luck with that. Have fun. And some advice, try not to puke. No matter how much you want to." _Are they that bad?_

OoOoOoOoOoO

"You should probably take your temperature." Sai held the thermometer out to Hinata and she took it angrily.

"I told you I'm fine." But she still did so, waiting longer than was normal for the beep. "Maybe I'm not…"

Sai looked at the temperature on the screen. _102.6_ "How are you still coherent and awake?"

"I don't like being sick, so I act like I'm not." She shrugged and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, drinking the whole thing in seconds. "It's really warm in here." She shrugged out of the sweatshirt she was wearing, leaving her in just shorts and a T-shirt.

"No, it's really not. You just have a fever. Go to sleep or something." Sai placed a bowl of soup in front of Hinata, followed by a plate of crackers.

"I'm fine. Let's just go back to practice." She went to walk out, leaving Sai staring after her.

"What about the soup?"

"Do you really want me puking my guts out during practice?" She got no reply. "I thought not. Come on." They left, leaving the soup abandoned on the counter, to return to the practice that had been going on for hours already and seemed to have no end, even though it was already well into the night.

When they finally reached the room again, Naruto was laying face-first on the floor, Sasuke's boot clad foot holding his head down as the leader continued to play on the guitar, not at all distracted. Hinata didn't even bother saying or doing anything, instead returning back to the keyboard. Sai glanced at the boy on the ground before poking him with his foot to make sure he was still alive. The blonde twitched so he returned to his drums as well. "Are you going to stop being annoying?" Naruto nodded under Sasuke's foot and it was removed, allowing the boy to sit up.

"Ow…" Naruto rubbed his head before stopping suddenly and slowly bringing his hand in front of his face to stare at it. "You made my head bleed!" He shoved the blood-covered hand towards Sasuke.

"Don't you dare touch me." Naruto stopped, his hand inches away from Sasuke's leg. "You deserved it. But go clean up or something. You're going to ruin the guitars with your blood."

Naruto saw the seriousness in Sasuke's eyes and stood without complaint, leaving the room and pressing his hand to the back of his head. A little while later, he returned in a new shirt, bandages wrapped around his head, and his hands completely clean of blood. "You're mean."

"You deserved it. Just get back to playing." Sasuke nodded for Naruto to grab a guitar. "You should learn the song Neji played at the concert."

"I wrote it for drums too. It's somewhere." Hinata spoke to Sai, motioning to their multiple folders of music they had written. "You might want to change some parts since I'm not an expert on drums."

"But you know some?" Hinata nodded to Sai. "Play it for me."

Sai stood and held the drumsticks out to Hinata for her to take before going through the folders and pulling out the music. Hinata, however, didn't need it, and started playing as soon as he had turned around with the music in hand. It wasn't as good as Sai's playing, but definitely not beginner playing either. By the time she had finished, Naruto was clapping while Sasuke wasn't all that surprised, having seen her play when she had thought she was alone before, and Sai smiled a little. "You're not bad."

"I know I'm not all that good. So you can change what you want in it." Hinata stood and placed the drumsticks on top of the chair, returning to her keyboard.

"I liked it. It's best that way." Sai glanced over the music quickly before picking up the rolling wooden sticks and sitting down on the chair. A few seconds later, he was softly playing the song, checking the music every now and then to make sure it was right. "This is really good for someone who doesn't play drums that often. How did you learn so many instruments?"

Hinata didn't even glance up from her keyboard, marking a few things down on another set of music sheets before playing it again. "I'd rather not say."

Sai and Sasuke understood immediately that it was tied into her life before all of this came up, but Naruto didn't. "Why not? It's not like you could have done something bad to learn it all."

Hinata sighed before putting down her pencil and glancing over at Naruto, who was studying the music he found in his folder from her. "Do you know what it is like to not be popular?"

"What does that have to do with this?" Naruto spoke the question the three boys were thinking, but Hinata didn't answer.

"Do you know what it is like to not be popular? Were you popular in school, before you became famous?" Naruto nodded slightly to Hinata, who turned back to her music after she saw it. "Then you wouldn't understand. Forget it."  
"Tell us." It was Sasuke now, commanding her to do so. "We aren't stupid. At least, not all of us are." Naruto didn't seem to get the last part, telling Hinata who Sasuke was talking about.

"I said forget it. I'm going to bed, I don't feel so great." She turned off the keyboard and closed her music, putting it back in her folder before walking out of the room, leaving the others behind in confusion.

"What just happened?" No one knew enough to answer Naruto.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"I brought you some soup and medicine." Sai set the tray down on Hinata's bedside table, taking the book from her hands. "Do you want to tell me what you were talking about in the practice room?"

"You wouldn't get it." She took the pills but left the soup alone. Sai didn't even have to guess why, looking at how pale she was.

"Try me. I'd understand more than you would think. And to answer the question you asked Naruto, I wasn't." He sat on the floor next to her bed before glancing at the book, giving up on wanting to read it when he realized it was in Korean.

"I would have thought you were…" She shook her head after studying Sai for a few seconds. "Most kids are stupid… When I went to school, I had gotten into a music school on full scholarship from when I was eight until I left for this." Sai leaned onto the bed, understanding that what she was going to say was going to be long. "It was a school to train the stars of tomorrow and they said I had talent, letting me in on full scholarship since I was pretty much an orphan at the time. But back then, all I was good at was singing, and it was mediocre if that. But they were going to train me to be better.

"I was foolish, believed things were going to be looking up for me since I had gotten into a school, found a family that was caring for me, even had friends. But then we were having our first showcase, and only two of the students not in the high school were going to be picked, two out of hundreds. I had been popular at the time, had improved so much, but my 'friends' at the time," her voice had so much disgust and hidden pain as she started to get into the story, and Sai felt for her grabbing her hand to try and comfort the girl as best he could, "were afraid I would take the spot they all wanted. I'd had tacks put in my dancing shoes, been given poisoned drinks to hurt my throat, even had someone throw a flowerpot at me. My friends abandoned me, and I'd had so much time alone since I wasn't thinking about being with them anymore."

"So you turned to playing music." It wasn't a question, just a statement of what Sai knew.

Hinata nodded. "I began to learn any instrument I could after that showcase. I had been chosen for it, ranked up top with the soon-to-debut stars in high school, and any friends I still had left me after that. Instead of spending nights with friends then, I spent my nights practicing everything, any instrument I could. I'd had a dorm that was never used; instead I slept in the practice rooms because I would normally fall asleep while playing." She smiled slightly as she thought back to the good times at the school. "I learned to not need others. But I doubt someone who was popular would understand that."

Sai only nodded, thinking about his own time in school, when something dawned on him. "What school did you go to? When?"

"Konoha Arts. I started in 2005, I think. Why?" But Sai didn't answer at first, racking through his mind and ignoring Hinata to focus. "Why?"

"Do you remember that first showcase?" Hinata nodded hesitantly. "Think of the band that placed above you. The drummer had gotten sick right before they went on and they had to get a middle school student from the crowd."

"H-how do you know that?" Sai didn't answer, letting her think back to the day, and her eyes widened slightly. "No way! You went there? You were the replacement drummer?"

Sai nodded, smiling slightly. "I'd always wondered who that kid who placed up with the band was. There were rumors going around my grade that you were a child star and things like that." He looked over Hinata once before clicking his tongue against his teeth and chuckling slightly. "Never would have thought back then you would be filling in for your brother in a band. Everyone thought you were going to get signed as soon as you were old enough."

"I _was. _I had to give it up to come here." Hinata glared at nothing in particular when she said that. Sai only looked down at the floor, realizing his mistake.

"I'll let you go to sleep now. Good night." He stood and started across the room.

"Night." As he left, he hit off the light, leaving Hinata in complete darkness. The girl didn't seem to mind, sinking down in the large bed and pulling the blankets completely over her head. As she went to sleep, thoughts of the interesting day went through her head and there was a smile on her face as she passed into dreamland.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Sai looked over the paper in front of him over the cup of tea he was drinking, soft sunlight floating in through the windows to light the room. He seemed completely immersed in the paper until Hinata's footsteps on the stairs were heard. As soon as they were heard, Sai was folding the paper and stuffing it into his pocket, replacing it with a newspaper.

When Hinata came into view, she was already all dressed and showered, checking the time on her phone and running around quickly. "What are you all dressed for?"

"Asuma's back. It seemed like he has good news. I'm meeting him at a coffee shop." She grabbed a piece of toast from the plate Sai offered to her, nodding her head in thanks as she stuffed it in her mouth and struggled to stuff her foot into the wrong shoe.

"I'm guessing you are feeling better?" She nodded, eating the toast as she did so. "Do you want a ride?" She shook her head, pulling a set of keys from her pocket to answer him.

"Motorcycle. Thanks though." She glanced at the clock on the wall before muttering something under her breath. "I'm going to be back by lunch." And she was racing out. A few minutes later, Sai heard the sound of the motorcycle pulling out of the house's driveway a little too fast, speeding down the street in seconds.

"You better not get hurt, Hinata." But he reached back into his pocket and pulled out the paper, before smiling and standing, starting towards Hinata's room. "You wouldn't want to miss out on this again."

He placed the paper neatly on top of her desk, the main title standing out in pink on the bland white papers of everything else on the desk. "I got you back into SM."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"You owe me." Asuma sat across from Hinata in a coffee shop, a piece of paper between them for Hinata to read. "You so owe me."

"I think acting like my brother is enough payment." She picked up the paper and started to read it, her eyes widening. "Is this true?"

"Yes." Asuma nodded and sipped at his coffee. "I went through food poisoning twice, got cursed out by Koreans for being a 'foreigner who didn't bother to learn the language,' and learned that there are many buses in Seoul. Not all of them go where you want them to." He shook his head at the memory. "If I could, I would never go back there."

"Then why are you?" Hinata put the paper down, looking at Asuma for his answer.

"They may have made me your acting manager until you get there. So I have to take you there and stay there for the first few days." He drank the rest of the coffee in a single gulp. "Remind me to bring my own bag of food to last for a week."

Hinata gave a slight smile, shaking her head. "I still can't believe you got me back in."

"It wasn't easy." Asuma expected some praise, forgetting for a moment who he was talking to.

"Neither is giving up a month of my life. Anyways, thanks." That was all she said before Asuma's phone rung, an alarm going off. He sighed and Hinata glanced at the screen. "I have a photo shoot today?"

"Didn't the boys tell you?" But Asuma still sighed, drinking the last of his coffee and standing. "Just come on. You have to be there soon."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Put this on behind there and then come back out for makeup." Kurenai shoved the clothes into Hinata's arms before pushing her slightly towards a changing room. "And hurry."

Hinata didn't pay attention as she threw on the black skinny jeans and buttoned up the purple shirt that went with it. She walked out a few minutes later to a pair of purple sneakers shoved in her face. "Put these on and then sit in that chair." Kurenai nodded to a seat before walking over to the table by it and organizing a bunch of things on there. Hinata hurried to do what she was told, and as soon as she was sitting her hair was being yanked and pulled.

After what felt like hours of torture, Kurenai was giving her a nudge out of the chair. "You're finished. Come on." Kurenai led the way to the main room were the cameras were already flashing on the other members, who had been through photo shoots so many times by now.

Naruto was dressed in the same outfit, only his jeans were gray and the shoes and shirt yellow; Sasuke's was black and lime green, and Sai had gray and red. When Hinata appeared, the pictures stopped for a short while to fit her into the poses, and then they continued again, directions being yelled at the four. Sai and Naruto both gave her slight smiles of encouragement as the cameras shuttered around them and the lights blinded her.

But soon the four were being separated and she saw a banana being shoved into Naruto's hands, an apple to Sai, and Sasuke was given a lime. As Hinata was directed to a small table with a phone on it like the ones the others were being posed at, a plum was given to her. More directions were shouted as she posed on her own now, the others doing their own things as well. By the time a break was called, she wanted nothing more than to sit down and drink some cold water, but Kurenai was there pulling her back to the dressing room, pressing a bottle to her lips at the same time.

"You have to get changed again so that I can redo your hair and makeup. Hurry before the others come in." A new shirt was shoved into her hands before Hinata was pushed back behind the curtain, and wasted no time in changing into it. When she came back out buttoning the last button on the top of the white shirt, Kurenai threw a black tie around her neck. "Tie that." She fumbled with it and Kurenai ended up grabbing it from her hands and doing it herself. A vest that matched the tie was shrugged on Hinata's shoulders and buttoned closed just as the others walked into the room, all drinking their own waters and being followed by their own stylists carrying clothing for them.

Hinata could feel all of the others looking at her since she was already changed as they took off their shirts right in front of her, but she just nodded her head and focused on putting on the new white sneakers Kurenai gave her. When she was finished, Kurenai guided her to a chair and pushed her into it before getting to work taking off the makeup that had been put on not that long ago and replacing it with new. Sai sat in the chair next to her and gave a slight smile as Kurenai started pulling a brush through Hinata's hair to clear it of hairspray. "How's the shoot doing you?"

Hinata only shrugged, flinching from the attack on her hair, and Sai had to go quiet as makeup was put on him now. By the time either one of them was ready to talk again, they were being pushed back to the setup for more pictures. Once again, they were positioned as a group and then as singles, and instead of food, they were now given the phones and girls were positioned with them. By the time the second set was done, Hinata wanted to die from tiredness, but she saw Kurenai with a new shirt and pair of shoes and knew more was to come. The white button up was replaced with a black one and a white tie was thrown around her neck before Kurenai handed Hinata a studded white belt to put on as well. Her hair and makeup were only touched up before Hinata was pushed back out with the others, and a small puppy was handed to her this time.

As Hinata played with the puppy for the pictures, she couldn't help but look at the others, who were all playing with the puppies to some extent, even Sasuke. Soon the baby dog was replaced with a kitten, and Hinata played with it too, wondering just how many more clothing changes they were going to have for the one phone. As if to answer her, Kurenai had no new clothes when the last pictures finished and she was finally allowed to change back into her own, more comfortable clothing. When the band was finally leaving, Hinata couldn't honestly say she would miss the place, and was more than happy to be sitting in the van heading back to their house.

"What did you think of the shoot, Neji? Weren't the puppies and kittens cute? I wish we could keep them!" Naruto was practically bouncing in his seat, but Hinata didn't quite have the energy to talk to him the whole way. Sitting in the back with Sai, she eventually fell asleep on the elder's shoulder, and he didn't have the heart to push her off, even after his arm started to fall asleep. In the row in front of them, Naruto was still talking a mile a minute to Sasuke, who had earbuds in and wasn't listening at all, but it didn't disturb Hinata at all.

With a slight smile, Sai shifted her head onto his shoulder more before she slipped off and turned to look out the window for the ride, enjoying being in the cramped van for the first time in a while. It didn't take a genius to figure out it was because of the girl asleep on him.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Sasuke! Sai! Neji! Guess what?!" Naruto tripped down the stairs and tumbled down, but the three sitting around the living room barely looked up at the boy as he jumped up from the floor without hesitation. "Our manager called! We're going on a variety show tonight!"

"I blame you." Sasuke glared at Hinata, but she seemed about as annoyed about it as he was. Maybe because it was only a day after the photo shoot. "What show?"

"Running Man!"

"Kill me now." Hinata stared Naruto down with a deadly glare. "We are going on Running Man? Tonight?" Naruto nodded overly enthusiastically. "Why?"

Sai and Sasuke realized her predicament, but neither could think of exactly what to say. So Sasuke said the obvious. "Just don't have to do the punishment."

"Thank you captain obvious."

"You're welcome sergeant sarcastic," Sasuke shot back.

"Corporal comeback." Hinata kicked him lightly before leaning over the edge of the couch she was laying on so the word was upside down and her hair dangled above the floor.

"But get ready! We have things to do first!" Naruto popped out of the kitchen area with a bowl of cereal in his hands, eating it as he talked. "They said to be there are six."

"What time is it now?" Hinata went to sit up, but Sasuke pushed her head back down with his foot and she flipped over, landing on the floor. "Ow…"

"Noon!" And their torture was beginning.

As Hinata picked herself up off the floor, something dawned on her. "Isn't Running Man a Korean show?"

"Where have you been? We have our own version here." Sasuke tried to kick her again, but she dodged his foot this time and he gave up. "How do you even know that it's Korean? I only know from working over there."

Hinata realized now was her time to surprise him, so she only smirked and started talking. In Korean. "I was going to work there before I came to work with you guys. I speak fluently and even can sing and write in Korean."

"All I understood of that was the word Korean itself."

"Somebody didn't pay attention in their Korean classes." Hinata walked past Sasuke still on the couch, poking his forehead as she did. "What do you guys want for lunch?"

**A/N So… I don't know if there actually is a Japanese version of Running Man. I'm just making that up for my story. And for those of you who don't know what it is, you should go check it out. It's pretty cool, and funny most of the time.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

As Hinata hurried to dress in her room before the others got angry at her for running late, she barely saw the paper on her desk. And when she saw it, she couldn't help but freeze as she caught the name on it. "SM Entertainment…" Saying it made her realize who the paper was from, and her eyes widened slightly. "Sai… Thank you." But she was already in, and his hard work didn't matter anymore.

But had they known when they told him she could join? She tried to read over the paper, but as soon as she picked it up, Naruto was yelling at her to get downstairs and Hinata had to put the paper down to run down as fast as she could, taking the steps a few at the time and tripping as she hit the main floor. "I'm here!"

"We're leaving!" And Hinata had to run once again to catch up with the others, not even thinking of grabbing a coat to fight against the chilly wind that would only get colder later at night when the filming started. She didn't even get to put her shoes on properly until she was crammed in the back of the van with Sai once again.

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, but he was focused on something on her phone. So Hinata sat silently next to Sai until Naruto and Sasuke were both caught up in their own things, headphones on both their ears. "Thank you. I saw the paper on my desk."

"It was nothing. I'm paying you back for saving our asses."

"Still, it means the world to me. Thank you." Sai still hadn't looked up from his phone and Hinata finally glanced over to see what he was doing. "Who are you texting?"

"Nobody." It was a blatant lie and Sai knew Hinata knew it, but he didn't give up on trying to act like it was the truth. Luck didn't seem on his side, however, as a video call popped up on his phone.

"Sai!" He barely held back his cringe as the girl's voice pierced through the phone and Hinata heard it, glancing over at the screen to see who it was. "Why aren't you answering my text?"

"I was, Sakura. You gave me all of a minute to do so. I don't live with my phone." Sai didn't want to close the call on her, but he also didn't want Hinata seeing who he was talking to. Once again, luck didn't seem to be on his side.

"Who's that, Sai?"

"Is that your new band mate? Neji? Lemme see him, lemme see him!" Sakura was practically bouncing in her seat, and Sai had no choice but to move the phone so Hinata was in the picture as well. "Oh! He's cute!"

Hinata blushed bright red at the comment. "Th-thanks."

"Where are you guys going?" Sakura had picked up on them being in the van.

"We're filming for Running Man tonight. I have to go Sakura. I'll call you tomorrow." Sai wanted to end the call, but Sakura was starting to say something and he would be dead if he cut her off.

"Don't forget about our date!" And the call ended, leaving Sai in the mess he was positive Sakura just created.

"Is–is she your girlfriend or something?"

"No." Sai cut anything Hinata might have thought short as quick as he could, but it seemed too swift to be completely true. "She's my friend. The only one I have left from my hometown."

"Oh…" Hinata seemed a little sorry that she brought it up, but a look from Sai told her it was okay and to just drop it. "Thank you, again."

"Just stop it. I just pulled a few strings I know."

"Can you even speak Korean to do that?" Hinata snorted as she looked at him, and Sai seemed a little offended.

So, he decided to be like Hinata. And he spoke in fluent Korean back to her. "Yes, I can. Thank you very much."

"You can! Why did I not know this earlier? So you know what I was telling Sasuke to confuse him?" Sai only nodded. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because it was funnier when you didn't know because I knew what you were saying to yourself and in your sleep when you thought no one would know."

"Am I going to have to speak in English then?" Hinata said it jokingly, but Sai shook his head.

"Know that too." He showed her by saying it in the language they were talking about, earning a little laugh from Hinata.

"Spanish?"

"Hablo un poco de español también." Sai gave a slight smile as Hinata's laughter grew.

"Thai?" Hinata thought she had finally gotten him, but Sai just nodded. "Um… French?"

"Oui."

"Dude, I'm running out of languages I know. Um, let me think… Mandarin?"

"Yes. But can I ask you a question now? Why do you know so many languages?" Sai finally looked Hinata dead on in the eyes, honestly curious.

"I got bored in school…" She shrugged, like it was a perfectly normal reason as to why she knew so much. "What about you?"

"Famous singer. We travel to a lot of countries, and I'm normally the one who learns the language besides what we are going to say on stage." It made sense to Hinata and she only nodded before looking at the two still absorbed in their phones in front of them. Sai followed her gaze and shook his head slightly. "You're not going to hear anything from either of them until we get there or one of their phones dies."

Hinata smiled a little at that. "Are you normally like that too?"

Sai shook his head. "I normally put in some music and watch the window. It's much more entertaining talking to somebody."

"Well, then I'm glad I can entertain you." They were quiet for a few minutes, Sai staring out the window and Hinata staring at him, before she broke the silence once again. "Is this Running Man like the Korean version? And do you know what we are going to have to do?"

"It's the same thing as the Korean version, just in Japanese. As for what we are doing," he shrugged. "Naruto would be the only one to know if any of us would, but even if he did, he wouldn't tell us. And I doubt he was told."

Hinata nodded, thinking about it. "Any idea where we are going?"

"Hokage Tower, I think." Sai thought for a few seconds before nodding. "I think that's what Naruto said he had been told."

"That makes sense. With all the floors and how big it is, it would be a great place for hide and seek." She leaned back in the seat, imagining playing the games inside the huge skyscraper that was the Hokage Tower. "I wonder who is going to be on my team… But this is going to be so much fun!"

OoOoOoOoOoO

As Hinata was having slight makeup done for the show, she wondered where the others were, but didn't put much thought into it other than figuring they were finished. So when she met them at the spot they were going to be waiting at until they were going on, she didn't question them on it and only wished she had remembered to grab a jacket before leaving. It was cold out and the stylists had just left them in the clothing they had left the house in, since they were changing into the Running Man uniforms in a few minutes.

When Sasuke's name was finally called to introduce him to the show, Hinata could only smile, since they were so much closer to the warmth of the building now. Naruto and Sai were called next, but then the hosts started talking to the three and she was stuck standing in the cold while they stood under the warm lights and by everyone else. After ten minutes, Hinata figured she was probably forgotten with all they were talking about, and realized now just how much of the show was going to be cut. Her hands felt like ice cubes, but without a jacket and only her thin shirt, she had nowhere to stuff them to warm them up, so she stood there, breathing on her hands and watching the clouds of breath swirl around, as her band continued to talk on and on, forgetting about her.

"Isn't there another guest?" She wanted to hug whoever finally brought her up, but her arms were too numb to do so if she really was going to.

"There is?" So she had been forgotten…

"Our newest member. Neji." Hinata wasn't sure if she wanted to thank Sasuke for finally mentioning her so she could get to the warmth or kill him for forgetting about her for that long.

She took the PD's cue to finally walk onto the set, very much frozen by this point. Hinata knew without a doubt that her nose was redder than Rudolph's, and her fingers were close to blue by now. "Hello." Her greeting was completed with a slight bow to the main members of the show, before she stood by the rest of Kitsune.

Sai could easily tell Hinata was shivering, and quickly took off his coat to drape over her shoulders. She nodded her head in thanks, too cold to speak, and pulled it as tight as she could around her. "Are you okay, Neji?"

Hinata looked at the one who asked her, the only female cast member. "It's cold over there. There weren't even lights to heat it up."

Her statement got them all laughing. Comments were made about how Neji was too cute for a sixteen-year-old boy, but Hinata let them slide for her brother to break the impression when he came back. Even Sasuke, Sai, and Naruto were laughing at her slightly, finding it hilarious that she was still burrowing into the coat for warmth.

As the crew came back to the show at hand, Hinata knew more questions were going to be asked. But there was still one main thing all of the questions would be about. "Why didn't you have a coat? Were you going for fashion over the cold?" Her outfit-or what was still visible-was glanced over by the hosts, finding her predicament too funny to pass up.

"They said they would leave me behind if I didn't hurry up out of our house, so I had to leave without a coat." She looked at Naruto specifically as she spoke, and it was noticed by everyone.

"You should have been ready on time."

"I would have been if someone didn't take an hour to shower and dry his hair." The hosts were chuckling at the little fight the two were having, but it was all in good humor and that was known by all.

"Anyways… You all are the famous, the amazing, the spectacular Kitsune!" Attention was brought back to exactly who they were, and Hinata wondered just how long they would be standing here. "Neji, you joined Kitsune, when?"

"Ah… three weeks ago?" She tried counting on her fingers, but eventually gave up on that. "I can't remember…"

Sasuke snorted trying to hold back a laugh. "It's been three weeks and five days with him. He's already causing problems."

"A troublemaker?" Hinata gave up trying to figure out who the hosts were by now, knowing it would be almost impossible with just how many there were and how only really the girl and three guys spoke for most of it.

"He's accident prone. Like, he got really sick a few days before one of our photo shoots and ended up passing out on Sasuke in the middle of the night." Naruto nudged Hinata at the end of it, smiling. "It was really scary. But then he was all fine for the shoot. Like magic."

"The magic of medicine…" Hinata shook her head, smiling a little at that. "Naruto almost killed me with soup he tried to make for me to feel better. It killed a plant he dumped it on." The hosts were laughing once more but soon they were talking again.

After more random questions directed to them as a band, another was asked to just Hinata. "Neji," she turned to one of the guys who really hadn't talked much, "what's one thing about Kitsune that really surprised you when you joined them?"

"What's that have to do with anything? We are talking about their new single and you come out with that." The girl went to slap the guy's head before stopping and thinking for a few seconds. "But it is a good question…"

"Um…" Hinata felt all eyes turn on her and tried to think as quickly as she could about it. "They… Before I joined Kitsune, I thought all famous people were the same; stuck up, thinking they were everything and that no one would be better than them. So I thought the whole band being like friends on stage was just an act, but it wasn't. They really are friends, even when they probably don't want to be. So I was really surprised by that." She saw Sasuke nod slightly out of the corner of her eye, apparently happy with her answer.

"What do you mean, 'when they probably don't want to be'?"

"Like when one of them wants to just hit Naruto for acting like a little kid at times or saying something stupid, or when they have to admit that they were wrong and another one of them was right. Things like that." Hinata tried to think of how to phrase it, but it just wasn't coming to her and she gave up on trying to put it into words.

"Where are you in all of that? Aren't they friends to you?"

"I-I hope to think they are my friends, but that might be a hard thing to ask of them, at least right now. I think I'm a person they can tolerate, but I'm still not so sure on that one…" She looked at the other members, and slowly, Sai nodded, followed by Naruto.

Sasuke, however, didn't reply at first. "Sasuke?"

"He," he sighed, tried to think of how he wanted to word it. "Neji is… he's like a little brother. Annoying sometimes, and sometimes you just want to get rid of him, but you still need him, and at times, you happy he's there, because that moment wouldn't have happened without him."

After Sasuke's little speech on her, Hinata couldn't really focus on the rest of the questions, still thinking about what the older boy had said. At some point, Hinata saw Sai starting to get cold and returned his jacket to him, only to have a crew member come running out with a blanket to put over her shoulders. Even after they got inside the building, she was still too cold to get rid of the blanket and kept it wrapped around her.

But then came the problem of changing into the Running Man uniforms. "Why are there three colors?"

"We're a team, and then the hosts are breaking into two four person teams as well." Sai nodded to the uniform in Hinata's hands. "You can change in the bathroom stall before they go in if you hurry." And hurry she did then, rushing to get the green jumpsuit on before anyone else walked into the men's room. She finished just in time and started to walk out just as the others started to walk in, changing just right in front of each other. Hinata couldn't have been more thankful to Sai, walking out before having to face any of the guys as they undressed.

Sai, Sasuke, and Naruto all came out wearing the jumpsuit to some degree, but none were wearing it fully, not even Hinata. While she just had the top unbuttoned so that her black shirt underneath was visible, Sai had the sleeves cuffed up and the top half undone, while both Naruto and Sasuke had folded the top down and tied the arms around their waists. Nametags were put onto the Velcro on the outfits, and they lined up with the others for the first mission to be announced.

"What's one of the things the Hokage does most?" Recording started with that question, and they were all firing answers to the PD, trying to figure it out. As random things were yelled out and they kept getting it wrong, Hinata truly thought about the question.

"Sign papers. Right?" A ding sounded after Hinata's answer and the others stopped to think about it. "Are we going to be signing papers then?"

An envelope was handed to the host Hinata guessed was the main one, but she still didn't bother trying to figure out who was who. He opened it and read it over before smiling slightly. "The first mission is…" he turned around the card so all could see it, "a signing-off. We are going to see who can sign the most papers." As he spoke, Hinata caught the glances the others were giving each other, even Sai, Sasuke, and Naruto. And she just knew she was missing something in this.

**A/N So… Chapter 9! I didn't expect this to get this far this fast, but it did… If any of my lovely readers know Running Man, you can probably figure out what Hinata is noticing. And if not, well, just continue reading to find out, I guess.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N So… I have some pretty big news. I've finished writing this story (don't worry, there are still five chapters after this one). This is the first story I've completely finished, but I still have plans for things that happen after the end of this. So maybe (but not a big maybe, since I still want to write this) I'll have a sequel. I think I will.**

**Chapter 10**

"Ready? Start!" Pens were flying across papers to sign them as fast as the people could, but Hinata was still sitting there, scribbling her pen on the first page and shaking it, glaring the pen down. After a few seconds of that, she stopped and looked to Naruto next to her, who put his pen down between every sign to turn the page. Hinata only smirked before quickly swapping her pen for his when he wasn't looking and started signing herself while Naruto was stuck with the broken pen. After it failing miserably for him, Naruto eventually threw the pen down and sat back in the chair with his arms crossed over his chest, knowing he had lost.

Hinata was making up for the time that was wasted on her broken pen and was signing with both hands, switching back and forth as she moved pages away to sign more. When the buzzer sounded for the end of the round, it wasn't even possible to tell she had lost time in the beginning with how large her stack was. Signed papers were counted, and Hinata managed to place in the top three, while Naruto and two of the main hosts were eliminated from the round. "Neji, what was that with you in the beginning?"

Hinata blushed a little, realizing she had been caught by the host. "My pen wasn't working. So I switched it with Naruto's…" There were chuckles around the room while Naruto glared Hinata down, but she didn't focus on his as the round started again. And again, she placed in the top three with Sai and Sasuke, while three others were eliminated. With only the six left, another round started, but the top three were still the same and the bottom two were eliminated, leaving the four for the last round.

As Hinata sat in her spot, she saw her pen roll off the table, but whoever was sitting next to her was fast in grabbing it, handing the pen back to her. The round started right after that, and as Hinata went to write again, her pen was once again not working. She stared down the person who handed it next to her before reaching over and easily plucking the pen from his hand, using it to write on her own now and not giving it back to him. He realized he had lost and just sat back in his seat, not believing that a kid like Hinata would just do that to him and started planning revenge.

When the buzzer sounded one last time, the papers that the three band members had signed were counted up. Sasuke and Hinata tied and were both given a running ball, but as the papers were going to be thrown out, Hinata stopped the crew member doing so. "Can I have all those?"

"Why?" Everyone on the set was honestly confused and looked at Hinata strangely, but she didn't seem to notice or care.

"I could become rich off of selling all those signatures!" And the laughter started again, thinking she was joking. But it was a good idea, and the crew member ended up gathering the papers into a pile. They just didn't go to Hinata. "I was serious!"

"Aren't you already rich? You probably have as much money as any of us." One of the quiet members gestured to all the older stars on the set, before looking back at Hinata.

But she was shaking her head. "I haven't gotten paid for joining Kitsune yet…" _Because it's all going to my brother. It's in his name anyways._

A few jokes were made in good humor over it, and Hinata realized she wasn't going to live down that moment. But after the first game came the bells hide and seek throughout the building, with modified rules.

Both main cast member teams were going to hunt for Kitsune, and if all four were caught, the teams would get a running ball for each member caught. Walkie-talkies were handed out to all of the members, and bells were tied onto the shoes of the two chasing teams before they were all separated to start in different places. As soon as they were allowed to, Kitsune was opening the list of places with the parts of a puzzle map of the five nations. Once assigned where they had to go, the four split up.

But once Hinata was out of sight, the other three came back together, and Sasuke switched the channel on the walkie-talkie before starting to talk. "He set off. Where are we meeting?" A crackled reply came through and they were off, running to the place they were just told to go to.

Hinata, however, was still running up the flights of stairs, her walkie-talkie pressed to her ear as she heard everything. All she could do was smile as she turned to the camera person following right behind her. "It's one versus eleven? This is going to be fun…" She reached her floor and made the way across to the storage room she had to search, sneaking inside and turning on the lights, only to turn them back off when they were really bright. "They might be meeting together, but they would have to be stupid to leave the whole place unguarded as they met." As if to prove her right, the walkie-talkie came back to life, the whole meeting being broadcast through it to those searching for her.

When Hinata found the puzzle piece she was searching for, she stuffed it into her pocket before looking at where the next piece closest to her would be. And then she set off again.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hinata had already found two pieces by the time she even heard bells. But as soon as she did, she took off running, leaving the cameraman completely lost with how quickly she left. He couldn't even find her no matter how much he searched, and eventually gave up to stake out at the place she was heading to until she appeared.

But she was hiding inside one of the storage rooms inside one of the filing cabinets. The door opened not too long after she crammed herself inside there and the light barely came through a slight crack. She heard the sound of bells on the shoe of whoever was there, but the person didn't think to check inside the cabinets, instead checking behind a few places and leaving, deciding she wasn't there. Hinata sighed as soon as the searcher left before climbing out of the small space she fit into and taking off out of the room once again. Deciding the main stairs would be too risky now that others would be searching, she took a back set that was definitely not meant to be seen by anyone but maybe the janitors, and almost fell down them a few times before she reached the next floor, where Naruto was supposed to look. She had figured out by now that no one else was looking, so she snuck out of the stair case and scrambled to find the room, eluding the cameras once again as she hid from another person with bells who ran right past the closet she was hiding in.

She crept into the room where the piece was supposed to be and searched for a little over a minute before she found it and stuffed it into her pocket with the others. _Two more to go…_ There was no need for her to even check where the next piece was since she already knew, and she was a little afraid of how much time was left. As she went back down her hidden staircase, her camera person passed right by, missing her completely as she started down.

Switching the channel on her walkie-talkie back to the one it was supposed to be on, she finally spoke into it. "Where are you guys? Do any of you have pieces?"

"Naruto and I were caught and Sai is hiding somewhere. Where are you?" Sasuke's voice came through, but Hinata could hear more people behind him and knew they were trying to trick her into giving where she was.

So she would trick them back. "I'm still on the first one. I can't find it anywhere." She paused in going down the stairs as she spoke so they wouldn't be heard and also to listen for anyone nearby. Nothing.

"Find it and then find the other one up there and Naruto's. Sai will get the other two." But she could hear the bells running in the background and knew they were going for her first spot. So she ran as fast as she could down to get to the basement, where Sasuke's piece was supposed to be.

It was definitely the most difficult piece to find, but nobody was searching the basement for her yet, so Hinata was able to search carefully. After finally finding it taped over the real place on a map, she could only smile and stuff it into her pocket. "One more to go. And where's my camera person?"

But she didn't have time to think about that, as she was diving into the doorway for the staircase as two pairs of feet with bells started coming out of an elevator. With them patrolling the floor now, Hinata had to sneak up the stairs as quietly as she could. When she reached the last floor with no problems, she let out a sigh before walking out of the staircase.

And right into one of the chasers. Without even wasting time on saying anything, she dodged his grab for her and took off faster than she had run all night, leaving another camera behind. Her original finally picked up on her, but it was only for a few seconds before she was gone again, too fast to be caught by anyone.

There was one last place there was supposed to be a piece, but there was also only a little over ten minutes left in the race. Hinata snuck into the room, knowing there would be somebody in there. But she was lucky that they didn't see her as she crawled in and found the piece on top of one of the first desks in there. She grabbed it and ran out, so that by the time it was realized she had been there, she would be gone.

The puzzle board was in the Hokage's office on the top floor, so Hinata didn't even waste time going to a hidden staircase, instead running up the main one as fast as she could and then faster. By the time she reached the top, there was little over a minute left, but she didn't pay attention to that as she entered the office. On the desk sat the puzzle board and she pulled out the pieces from her pocket, putting them into place as fast as she could. The door opened as more than one chaser came running in, but Hinata put the last two pieces in at the same time with only seconds to spare. Barely believing it, she fell back into the Hokage's chair. "I did it… I beat all of them." One of the staff members pulled out the boxes of Running Balls and first handed Hinata the lone one that said Neji on it, before pulling out four green ones with the names of all the members of Kitsune written on them.

"Why does he get the Running Ball? We still tricked him." A finger was pointed at Hinata, but she just shook her head before it was explained by the PD.

"He figured it out in the beginning. It's on tape." A computer with one of the few scenes that were caught of Hinata was turned around and she spoke right into the camera what they were supposed to be doing.

"But why do the other members of their team get the Running Balls? They didn't complete their mission…" It seemed none of them wanted to accept that they lost the chance at two running balls when none of them had any yet.

"Neji completed the team mission as well. The whole team gets the balls." With no other points that wanted to be argued, filming ended as they returned back downstairs, Hinata with three balls in one pocket and carrying the puzzle as well.

"Sasuke said Sai was hiding… Where is he?" Shrugs went around the elevator, but no one seemed too worried about him. As if to answer them, when they reached the main floor with Sasuke, Naruto, and a few other chasers, Sai was there with them.

Tables were set up with different makings of some sort of tea, and Hinata realized right away she was going to regret this next competition.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

"I just have a few questions before we start the next competition." All around the tables, they nodded to the man running the show, and he looked around before landing on Neji. "Where were you hiding when you lost the camera? And how did you get around the building without taking the stairs or the elevator?"

"I found a hidden staircase so I used that to sneak around." Thinking about the other question, she smiled slightly. "As for where I was hiding… why don't I show you?" Multiple cameras followed them as Hinata led the way to the original storage room she hid in. "I heard somebody outside so I came running in here, but there was nowhere to really hid, so I climbed into the filing cabinet." She opened the exact drawer she climbed into and went to close it, only for someone to tell her to climb in to show them how she fit. "You want me to climb back in?"

"We didn't get to see it the first time…" Hinata knew she would have no choice since they were filming and all, so she sighed but placed her foot into the drawer before climbing all the way in and pulling it in from the inside until there was only a small crack of air. Hearing applause from outside of the drawer, she pushed it back out and climbed out, fixing her shirt after she did so and closing it with her foot.

"How do you even fit in there?" The drawer was pulled open again and a few of the members were looking inside of it to see if there was any more space once it closed. There wasn't. "It's not all that big… But I guess you aren't either…" There were a few chuckles at Hinata's expense and a few more jokes before they moved back to the tables in the main hall.

"How this works… you choose a number one through six for the size of the spoon that will be used to spoon the tea powder into your cup. The numbers will be changed each time. Then you will roll a die for the number of eggs to go in." The rules were explained in quick before Naruto was being asked for a number. Both he and Sai got pretty normal sized spoonfuls, and then it was Hinata's turn.

Luck didn't seem to be on her side, when she chose the spoon as big as the bowl. All of the remaining powder was poured into her cup so that it was almost full to the top and then a new bowl was given for the rest of them. Sasuke had almost as bad—an ear pick of powder.

Other than Hinata, nobody else ended up picking the biggest spoon, but it was only the beginning since eggs came next.

Hinata was the first to roll the die now, and ended up rolling a six. "I don't think they are all going to fit in the cup…" She raised the almost-full cup as proof, only to have another brought out to her. Half the powder was poured into the second cup along with half the eggs, and they were both filled with hot water. Again, nobody got six eggs after her, and Sasuke only got one, while most others got two or three. "Did you guys rig this too? Is it still all of you against me?"

There was more laughter, but it only became worse as Hinata's face changed to one of horror as the hot water was poured into both of her cups and the tea became just that. "I have to drink all of this?"

No one bothered answering her as the quick recap of the rules was given. When the race of drinking started, Naruto was the first in their team, downing the cup as quickly as he could. Sai did the same, buying time for Hinata to chug both of hers. Sasuke tried, but with little in the cup, it was too hot and he was sputtering while Hinata tried to cool hers down as Sasuke was cheered on by the others. She didn't even bother looking at the other teams as she lifted her first cup and drank it in one gulp, before picking up the second cup and starting to do the same. Halfway through, she started choking on it and went to pull away, but saw neither team had finished yet, so she drank right through choking, throwing the cup down on the table when she finished. Almost immediately, she was running off camera to the nearest garbage pail, and it sounded like somebody followed behind her, but she dared not turn around and possibly face a camera.

"Are you alright?" It was Sai, but she still didn't trust that there wasn't a camera there as well. The sound of her coughing the liquid back into the garbage pail answered him. "I guess not. Do you want some water?" She could only nod and he left, only to return a minute later with a brand new bottle of water. He opened it before handing the bottle to Hinata and she sipped it before swishing some around in her mouth and spitting it back out into the garbage to clear the taste of vomit from her mouth.

Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she finally turned around. "Thanks. Did we win?"

"I think so." Sai looked back at the groups at the table, all talking but watching them at the same time. Hinata was right that there was a camera filming the whole thing, even her vomiting. _Lovely._

They made their way back to the table, and even before Hinata sat down again, questions were being asked. "Are you okay, Neji?"

She only nodded, sipping at the water again. "I'm never doing that again. And I think I topped your radish challenge, Sasuke."

"You didn't listen to my advice. You puked." Hinata stuck her tongue out at him at that.

"We still won, didn't we?" Hinata nudged him before taking the Running Ball meant for her.

Around them, the other teams were watching with longing as Hinata got her fourth Running Ball. "There is one last competition that can save the eight of us from certain punishment." All attention was brought back to the purpose of the show, and Hinata was curious as to what the last event would be. She hoped it was nothing like the last one. "There are people who do many things for our nation. Even crossdressing." Hinata knew her face probably drained of color at the mention of the last event, but she still paid attention. She could feel the stares of Sasuke and Sai into the back of her head as well, but ignored them to listen. "Each team is going to choose one member to represent them in the Miss Running Man competition."

"Neji should do it! He already looks like a girl!" Naruto's too innocent comment had the other three members exchanging a look, but Hinata eventually nodded that she would. "Yay! We are so going to win this!"

"And no help from stylists. There are racks of clothing to choose from, but Kitsune's team gets first pick since they have won every event so far." The PD's announcement made no real difference to Hinata since she knew what she had to do, so they just walked over to the racks and looked through them, grabbing a few different outfits before going to where they were to change Hinata.

She put on the first one and looked from her chest binding to a box of tissues before grabbing a few and stuffing them down the front. "A girl stuffing a bra over chest binding. That doesn't seem right," she muttered, shaking her head, but still walked out to show the first outfit to the others.

"No. Just go change into something else." Sasuke barely even looked at her before waving her back in.

"Thank God. I hated that." After a few minutes of looking through the other clothes the boys had picked for her, she sighed, but put on another outfit. Straightening the skirt and tightening the tie, she walked around to show it to the others. "Do I look like a schoolgirl?"

"Uh, well, uh, _yeah_." Sasuke wasn't the only one who couldn't form sentences at how Hinata looked in the simple school uniform, and it sure didn't help when she tucked a loose hair behind her ear like she did.

"Then can you guys go get some shoes and other things while I find a wig and makeup?" Hinata seemed to hate the uniform, but none of the guys noticed as they went down to grab some more things for her while Hinata looked through the few wigs they had picked before putting on a simple long black one. She brushed that into place before looking at the bag of makeup they had been given. After looking at some of what was in there, she dumped the whole bag on a table to sort through it. Grabbing a lip gloss, blush, eyeliner, and mascara, she opened the little folding mirror that was in the bag and started putting it on as best she could. By the time the others came back, she looked completely different.

So different that they stopped in the doorway, all shocked at the change. The few things they had grabbed for her dangled from their fingers and a few fell. Hinata looked up at them before glancing at the things now on the floor. "What did you guys get?"

"Oh, uh… here." Sasuke held out the shoes he was carrying, while Naruto dumped the backpack he grabbed on the table and Sai just held onto the glasses. Hinata pulled a pair of knee high socks from the bag and put them on before putting on the slightly-big shoes. After that was all done, she stood up and looked at the glasses in Sai's hand before grabbing them and putting them on. The strap on the messenger-style backpack was placed on her shoulder before she turned to look back at the boys again.

"How do I look?"

"We are so winning this." There was no arguing with Naruto's statement.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"To judge, we have a few random people from the street. Because no one else is up at three in the morning if they don't have to be. Please introduce yourselves." A microphone was passed between the three girls and two guys standing there, before being handed back to the original person acting like the announcer for the final competition. "First we have Akemi from the red team. Please come out."

Out walked an obviously male contestant and the judges couldn't help but laugh as he tried to walk in heels but kept tripping. A little introduction was given before he went to stand on the side for the rest of the time. One of the first things he did was take off the heels and stand barefoot, rubbing his feet occasionally.

"Next is Katsumi from the blue team. Would you please come out?" A better looking girl walked out, but it was still obvious it was actually a guy. He did much better walking in the heels and a few more questions were asked, like why he picked the name and others. Eventually, he went to stand next to the other, still trying to look pretty.

"And last is Hinata from the green team. Please come out, Hinata." She peeked around the curtain before walking out slowly, pulling off an innocent schoolgirl look easily. "Wow… Uh, wow."

People were speechless, and one of the judges leaned over to another. "Is he actually a girl?" She only got a shrug in reply.

Hinata took the mic that was offered to her and did her little introduction. "Hello. I'm Hinata from the green team, age sixteen." She bowed, but the wig stayed in place, surprising all those watching. When she straightened up, she pushed her glasses up her nose a little more and fixed the strap on her bag.

"Why did you, uh, choose the name Hinata? The others chose names that meant something with beauty, but yours doesn't…" The host tried to come up with something, but he was still stuck on how Hinata looked more than anything else.

"I have a twin named Hinata, so I decided I would use her name. It would have more meaning than a randomly chosen name." She fingered the edge of her shirt as she answered a few more questions before the other two were told to walk up to join her while the judges discussed who won.

Just as they were about to announce, the PD's voice cut through the set. "Green team is not in the running for this competition. If they win another Running Ball, we will have too many people completing the punishment." And the judges went back to discussing, telling everyone who would have won.

"You mean I can get out of this now?" Hinata was given a nod and she immediately started walking to the back of the set. "See you later!" Before anyone could respond, she was gone, already starting to unbutton the shirt. "I want out of this now."

Nobody who knew her secret could really blame her.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N So I wrote the first chapter of the sequel to this. The title is still undecided, but is most likely going to be **_**We Meet Again**_**. I'm going to finish posting this story so that I can get to that one now!**

**Chapter 12**

Hinata stood with the rest of Kitsune and the members of the show back in the normal show uniform, holding her four balls while the other members of Kitsune held three, and the blue team all held one. The red team was empty handed. "The red team, with no Running Balls, is completing the punishment, but two others are going with them. So put your Running Balls in for us to find out who is safe." Hinata's were the first to go in, followed by the rest of Kitsune and then the other team.

The machine started and balls started flying around inside the container before one rolled out a chute. "Sasuke!" Saved from the punishment, he smiled slightly and watched as the next ball rolled down. "Sai!"

Following them were two names from the other team, leaving Hinata to worry if, despite all of her Running Balls, she wouldn't be safe. To make her worry more, another name was called from the other team, leaving her with just Naruto and the last member of the blue team.

"And finally…" The ball was picked up and hidden so only the host announcing the names could read it. "Neji!" And she was safe. That was all that mattered.

Sasuke and Sai both clapped her on the back, while Naruto didn't seem all the upset with the punishment. He left with the others to change into their hot pants for it, and none of the members of Kitsune could hide the laughter when he returned. He was wearing bright orange hot pants with his black t-shirt, and his legs were as skinny as Hinata's, if not more. And she was already almost a twig.

But Naruto was only smiling as he held out the skin markers he had been given with instructions for his team. "You all have to draw on me."

Sasuke wasted no time in walking up to Naruto and roughly grabbing the blonde's hair to hold him still as 'idiot' was written across his face. As Sasuke walked back, he capped the pen and smiled at his work before handing it back to Naruto. Hinata and Sai got to work at the same time, thinking of the same thing. They drew a moustache and goatee on Naruto with the pens before handing them back to the boy. When a mirror was handed to Naruto to see his face, he smiled at the work by Sai and Hinata, before trying to read what Sasuke wrote. It was backwards in the mirror though, and he eventually gave up, just smiling as he was led away for the punishment.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Sasuke, Sai, and Hinata were just lying around the house while Naruto did his punishment, playing on some instruments every now and then, but doing nothing major. Song ideas were thrown between the three, but none were really being taken seriously, mostly just jokes. A random drama was put on in the background as they sprawled across the living room, talking about random things just to talk.

Hinata's cell phone ringing broke the conversation and she looked at the number, but it was unknown. Sai muted the television as she answered the phone and held it up to her ear. "Hello?"

Whoever was on the other line must have been someone important, as she froze and the phone slid from her hand. A guy was heard from the other end, and Sai crawled forwards to pick up the phone, putting it on speaker as soon as he grabbed it. Hinata was still too shocked to do anything. "Who's this?"

"I'm Neji. You are?" The voice crackled through the phone, and both Sai and Sasuke smiled a little at it.

"I'm Sai." Before much else could be said, Hinata seemed to get over the shock of who was on the other end of the line.

"Yah! Neji! You've got some nerve, calling me now!" The phone was ripped from Sai's hands as Hinata screamed into it, deafening the two in the same room as her and probably the boy on the phone as well.

"Nice to talk to you too, sis." He chuckled slightly, the sound coming through the phone speaker low. "I've missed you too. And yes, my surgery went fine."

"Yah! Don't go talking to me like that! You didn't need the original surgery in the first place. It's your fault your eyes got screwed up." Hinata was glaring at the phone and hoping Neji on the other end could feel it, but secretly, she was a little glad he called and was okay.

"I have good news for you. I'll be taking over for you in two weeks."

"I have to live as you for two more weeks!" Neji could tell she was joking now; her voice lost most of the hard tone it had held when she was yelling at him before. Most, not all. "I'm going to kill you when I see you."

"I love you too, little sis." He chuckled into the phone again, and Sasuke and Sai were enjoying the conversation between the long-lost siblings, finding it humorous.

"When do you get back to Korea at least?"

"Why don't you answer the door to find out?" Hinata practically jumped up before trying to race across polished hardwood floors in socks, almost falling on her face multiple times. Sasuke and Sai followed after her, curious to see the actual Neji for once.

"Neji!" Hinata opened the door to see an almost-exact replica of her in the doorway, shivering in the cold. And instead of welcoming him in, he hit him hard. "That's for leaving me for eight years!" But she did finally pull him through the door, closing it behind him while he rubbed his arm where she had punched him. It wasn't a light punch at all.

"I know it doesn't help much now, but I'm sorry. Really." He ruffled his little sister's hair before pulling her into a hug, right in front of Sai and Sasuke. The two, knowing it was going to be a private reunion of siblings, left for the kitchen to start making a meal for all of them.

"I missed you," Hinata mumbled into her brother's shoulder. "I missed you so much."

"I'll never leave you like that again." He pulled back from Hinata and saw tears running down her cheeks. "Don't cry," he wiped them away with his thumb gently, earning a slight smile from Hinata, "I'm back now. And I'm staying here."

Hinata smiled before giving her brother's shins a light kick. "Are you going to stand there all day? Come on, this is technically your house."

"There's the tough Hinata I know. I was wondering what happened to her." Neji smiled as he took off his shoes and placed them in the line with the other members' pairs. Sliding his feet into a spare pair of slippers, he walked into the large house, glancing around in amazement. "We have a lot of catching up to do…"

"You could say that." Hinata walked into the kitchen just as Sai and Sasuke sat down the last of the quick dishes they were making. She smiled at them in thanks before sitting down at the counter. Neji hesitantly followed behind her, and Sai and Sasuke sat across from the twins.

"You two look so alike, it is scary." Sai looked between the two a few times, before finally smiling slightly at Neji. "I'm Sai."

"Sasuke."

"I guess you two are supposed to be my band mates?" They nodded, and he looked from them to Hinata and back. "If I find out you haven't treated my sister like a princess…"

Hinata smacked the back of his head. "Look who's talking." She looked across the table to smile at Sai and Sasuke. "Thanks for the food." She picked up her chopsticks and wasted no time in grabbing all the food she wanted, surprising Neji with the sheer amount she was planning on eating.

Sai and Sasuke also served themselves, and Neji did so after them, only taking a little of eat item they'd set out. "I was told I'm staying with you guys for two weeks before my sister leaves to get caught up on everything she has done in my place."

"Fine by me. You get the couch." Sasuke nodded to the living room with the couch that would be Neji's bed for two weeks. "And you better start practicing songs. You can't screw this up."

"I've been practicing while I was recovering." Neji tried to defend himself against the older boy, but Sasuke glared him down, and Neji shifted his gaze back to the plate with his lunch on it, eating it to fill the silence.

"I expected you to have done that. We've written new songs that we haven't given to the producers yet. _Those _are the ones you have to learn." Sasuke finished eating and stood to place his plate in the sink before sitting back down at his seat. "And if I were you, I would have at least thanked my sister for giving up over a month of her life to live as you when she had better things to do." With that said, he stood and walked out, leaving Neji staring after him.

Coming to his senses he went to turn to Hinata, but she was holding up a hand. "Don't even start thanking me. You have a stalker manager. That's about the only reason I'm here. And to find our mother. I have a few choice words for her." Neji's eyes widened at the last bit, realizing that Asuma had told Hinata one of the reasons he was joining the band in the first place. "But if I were you, I would start practicing as soon as you can. We have a lot of things for you to learn." And she was done with her meal, cleaning both her plate and Sasuke in the sink before putting them away and walking out of the room.

"I'm bad at this, aren't I?" Sai only nodded to Neji.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"No, just stop." Neji looked up from the keyboard to see Hinata glaring him down. "Move." She pushed him away before he could, taking the place behind the instrument. "Like this." And then her fingers began to fly across the keys, playing a song Neji hadn't heard before. "Try again."

Neji did and got it this time. Hinata sighed in relief, before sitting down in a chair. "Why don't we take a break? Both of us are tired from you teaching me."

"There isn't time for breaks!" Hinata looked up to glare at Neji, and he backed down from his angry little sister. "Play it again. Ten-no, twenty times. Don't stop."

He sighed but started the song over again. Hinata heard the door of the practice room open but didn't look at who came in, figuring it was Sasuke or Sai checking up on Neji. It wasn't. "Why are there two Nejis?!"

Neji stopped playing while Hinata whipped around to face Naruto, who kept switching between who he was looking at. Sai appeared in the doorway, obviously hearing the yell, and Sasuke was there a few seconds later. "Naruto…"

"Am I sick? Why are there two Nejis?" He turned at Sai and Sasuke. "What's going on?"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"You're Hinata?" Naruto pointed to the person he had been living with for weeks, still not able to get his mind around the whole thing. She only nodded. "And you've been living as Neji with us for weeks now?" Hinata nodded again.

"Naruto, I'm sorry…" She tried to comfort the boy, but he flinched away from her outstretched hand, tears welling in his eyes.

"Don't touch me." He scrambled to the farthest end of the couch his was on, the farthest he could get from Hinata. She pulled her hand back with a heartbroken look. "Don't ever touch me again."

"Naruto, listen." He looked to Neji, but made no move from his ball on the couch. "If you are going to blame someone, blame me, not my sister."

"Oh, I blame both of you enough already."

"Naruto, understand where she comes from." It was Sai now, trying to talk to Naruto, but the blonde's glare was turned on him.

"You and Sasuke are no better! You knew, and you didn't tell me!" As he yelled at him friends, Hinata stood and started to walk out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Neji's question brought everyone's gazes to her, but Hinata only gave a small smile as she stopped in the doorway.

"I'm the cause of this. If the cause is removed, the problems will go away." And she was walking out the door, running down the steps while still carrying her shoes, taking off before anyone could catch up to her. By the time any of the boys had even gotten to the doorway to look after her, she was turned the corner at the end of the driveway and still running.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Hinata sat down on the bus stop bench to finally put her shoes on, ignoring looks from people who recognized her as Neji or who just thought she was strange, with only jeans and a t-shirt and vest to fight against the cold. She probably should have been shivering from the temperature, but she wasn't.

As the bus she wanted came into view, she smiled, pulling out the exact amount she need for the ride and putting it into the pay box before taking a seat in the very back of the bus, looking at a window. She could still remember the first time she ridden this bus…

_Naruto smiled brightly as he pulled Hinata's arm to get her up the steps. "Come on, Neji." He put the money for both of them in the box before walking to the very back and sitting in the last row, right by the window. "Whenever I'm upset or stressed or just can't think straight, I come to this bus. It takes exactly an hour to make one loop, so it's an hour to just get rid of all the feelings. And I think you need that now."_

_Hinata only gave a slight smile back, not really believing the bus ride would help like Naruto said it would. "Sasuke can be really mean sometimes, but he only does that when he is friends with them. He's different with you though… But it's only your first week with us, and you are already being put under too much stress. So I wanted to help."_

"_Thanks, Naruto." And they were silent for the rest of the ride. Hinata looked out of her own window on the other side of the seat, and felt her stress melting away as buildings flew past. Naruto was right. It really did work._

But it wasn't working this time. As the bus neared her stop again, Hinata stood to get off, only to be grabbed by one of the people who had just gotten on. She followed the arm grabbing her own up to see Naruto standing there. Without a word, he pulled Hinata back to their seat and sat her down, taking the window on the side away from her and looking out it, never at Hinata. He didn't say anything the whole time. "Naruto?"

"I thought you were my friend, that I could trust you, but I was wrong. You're just a stupid, dangerous girl. I'd even learned a song for you in Korean after I found all your books and realized you like some of their things so much, but I guess it's just useless now." Hinata could see tears running down Naruto's cheeks, but didn't know what to do to stop them. "I'd liked you-no, I liked _Neji_, and now I feel that I should hate Hinata, but I just can't. I can't hate you, even after you've broken me like this." He finally turned to face Hinata. "Is this what it feels like to love someone? If it is, I don't ever want to love again."

"Naruto…" Hinata moved closer to the boy, and he didn't flinch like before, so she took that as an okay to wrap her arms around him, pulling the crying boy to her shoulder. "I'm sorry Naruto. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to lie to you, but none of you were supposed to know. I just messed it all up. Big time." Naruto hiccupped a laugh at the last part, and Hinata could see him wipe away the last of the tears that were coming.

"But you don't like me like I like you, do you?" Naruto looked up at Hinata and could tell by the look on her face. "It's okay though. Once I get off the bus, all my feelings from before are gone, and I can start new. Don't you remember me telling you that?"

"I do Naruto. I remember." Hinata gave him a smile back, and felt Naruto lean on her shoulder again.

"Can we stay like this, just for this ride?" Hinata only nodded to Naruto, feeling him sink into her shoulder a little more once she did. "Do you like Sasuke or Sai? I know it is one of them."

"I… I don't know." Hinata answered him honestly, and Naruto can tell. "Sai's always been so nice and caring to me, but Sasuke has his moments, and when he does, he does something spectacular."

"Like drinking your drugged drinks so you wouldn't." Naruto nodded his head. "He likes you too, you know. He was telling me and Sai when we got to the rooftop that night. That was why he did it, for you."

Hinata hadn't known this, and looked down at Naruto. He was smiling softly at the memory. "How do you all this?"

"After he'd tasted the drug in your drink, he told Sai and me to make sure you didn't drink any of them. There was a lot were drugged though, so I ended up drinking them with him so you wouldn't…"

"Why would you do that, Naruto? Neither of you had to." Hinata subconsciously started petting his hair back from his face as he talked, just so that she could see his eyes.

"We didn't want to worry you. If you knew someone was trying to drug you, we thought you would have freaked out." Naruto shook his head though, trying to get some of the bad memories of the night out now.

"I wouldn't have. It wouldn't have been the first time I was drugged." Hinata patted Naruto's head. "You guys didn't have to do that for me."

"When were you drugged before? Who did it? I can kill them for you." Naruto shot up off of Hinata's shoulder to look Hinata in the eyes. "Who drugged you before?"

Hinata pulled him back down to rest of her shoulder, trying to calm the boy. "You don't need to kill them for me. They already got their punishment. And it was a long time ago…" She felt him relax a little, so she continued on. "When Neji and I were kids, there was a time when we were living on the streets. Our mother had abandoned us at birth and our father was in jail, so our aunt took care of us. But when we were seven, she died, and we were left on the streets for a while before anyone took us in. Neji had been taken into somebody's home before I was, and I was left alone. One night, a gang tried to kill me," Naruto tensed up again, but relaxed as Hinata started petting his hair again. "They'd stabbed me with knifes coated with some poison they'd made and one of them gave me multiple shots of something. I almost died from them, but that was when Teuchi came along and saved me. He took me in. So I was the girl in the ramen shop from when you were little."

Hinata smiled a little at the end of telling the story, happy to have finally told somebody, but also remembering some good times with Neji from when they were little. She was surprised when Naruto's arms wrapped around her, and she felt him nuzzle into her neck more. "I'll always protect you. From now for forever."

"Thank you Naruto." As the bus pulled up to the stop once again, Hinata knew that it had worked again this time. It just took a little longer.

As soon as they had stepped off the bus, Naruto was back to his hyper, little kid self. "Do you want to get some ice cream?"

Hinata laughed a little as he bounced in place. "Sure. I'll pay."

"No, I will." Hinata didn't bother arguing with him, planning on paying while he was still ordering his ice cream. But he still beat her to it. "I said I would. Now come on!" As they walked out of the shop, Hinata couldn't help the smile that was forming on her face. _If you remove the cause, the problem always get better. But do you always need to do that, or can things change without taking something away?_

OoOoOoOoOoO

"What is this?" Hinata stood in front of her brother and the band, holding a wig and pair of heels in one hand, while a dress on a hanger was in the other. "Why was this on my bed after my shower?"

"We have an event today, but Neji's going to be doing part of it and you are doing another part of it. We need you there, but we can't have two Nejis. So Neji's sister Hinata is coming with us to the event, after she finally found her brother after being separated from him for so long." Sasuke explained the whole plan without even looking up from his cereal, angering Hinata more.

"I'll go as a girl, but I'm not wearing a dress and a wig. I'm wearing my own clothes." And she was gone again, going back up the stairs to her room.

"Is she always like that?" Neji glanced around the table, but they shook their heads.

"Only when it comes to girly things. Like dresses and makeup and all." Naruto smiled a little as he explained. "That probably helped with her acting as a guy for a month."

Neji nodded and went back to eating his breakfast with the others. "What event is there today?"

"Signing. You sister copied your signature perfectly, so no need to worry about it being different or anything." Sai stood to get a new box of cereal for himself and grabbed a bowl and Hinata's favorite, putting them in front of Hinata's seat with a spoon.

With a glance at the box, Neji started smiling. "She still eats that? At least one thing hasn't changed from us being kids."

"It's her favorite…" Sai glanced at the little kid cereal with cartoon characters all over the box. "She always searches for the prize."

"I used to have to put things in the boxes after she opened them because she would forget that she already found the prize the last time she ate it and would get upset when it wasn't there." Neji's smile grew a little bigger at the memory.

"She still does that." It was Sasuke now, nodding towards the box. "She forgets she found the prize so we have a drawer stocked with little prizes that go in the box before she comes down." He pointed to one of the only locked drawers in the kitchen, telling Neji that was where the prizes were hidden. "With the amount of locks she's picked throughout this house, I'm surprised she didn't just pick that one too."

Before they could say much more about Hinata's childish antics, footsteps were heard at the top of the stairs, and Hinata came down, wearing a pair of her own black skinny jeans and a light blue plaid button up that was open to a blue Kitsune t-shirt. It was the first time any of the boys had seen her not binding her chest, so that alone was a shock. But the hair she had refused to put a wig over looked nothing like the boy's style she was wearing for weeks now, instead a little wispy with a hat over it. Teeth were under the bill of the hat, looking like they were about to bite her head. "I told you I didn't need to wear a dress."

She sat down before digging into her pocket, eventually pulling out a pair of glasses and putting them on. All of them glanced at her curiously, and she noticed. "I've been wearing contacts, okay? I was just too lazy to put them in right now." Her cereal was poured into the bowl Sai had set out for her, and when the prize came tumbling out, she smiled a little as she grabbed it and stood the cheap action figure up by her cup. "When do we have to leave?" Milk was poured in, and she ate a spoonful while still looking around the table.

"Half an hour. But you're already ready, so it doesn't really matter." The boys were pretty much finished by now, so they started cleaning up as Hinata ate. When they were getting ready and she was finished, Hinata had nothing left to do, so she just sat on the couch, flipping to a random channel on the television and leaning back on the couch to relax as she watched. "This can either be really fun or will end horribly. I just hope it's the first."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"What was the point of me even coming here if I have to sit in the dressing room the whole time? I can't even talk to people from the other bands that are here?" Hinata kicked back in the chair, looking between Asuma and Kurenai. "This is boring."

"You can't leave here until Neji is switching places with you. When you take the place of Neji for the concert, you allowed out, but until then, you need to stay here." Asuma pleasing with Hinata with his eyes, and she eventually gave in.

"But I'm bored. Isn't there anyone not ten years older than me to talk to?" The two adults shook their heads and Hinata sighed. "Play cards with me then." She pulled a stack of cards from her bag and started shuffling them, explaining the rules of the game she wanted to play to Kurenai and Asuma. They had no choice but to go along with it, not wanting Hinata to leave the room, and the hour of playing cards started.

But after Hinata beat the two more than ten times, it wasn't fun to her anymore. "Can't I be a gift collector or something? I'll even wear a mask; I just want to get out of here." But again, she wasn't allowed out. "It's like you two kidnapped me."

Kurenai and Asuma chuckled at that a little, but there wasn't much they could offer to Hinata to do. She drew some in a notebook in her bag, read a book cover to cover, and even solved a variety of strange Rubik's cubes multiple times, but there wasn't anything that held her attention for long. Eventually, she was back to where she started. "I'm bored."

"Here's a guitar. Do something." Asuma pulled the guitar case from under a couch he'd been sitting on, handing it to Hinata. "It's annoying having you change from one thing to another every ten minutes."

Hinata didn't listen, instead tuning the guitar quickly before strumming it. She smiled slightly before getting her hands set and starting a song. Asuma shut his mouth to watch the girl as she started singing along with the guitar. He barely recognized the language as Korean, but was still entranced with how her voice sounded with the acoustic. When she finished the song and looked up, many stylists and even a few managers were in the room or doorway, staring at her. They all applauded the performance, while Hinata was slightly shocked; she thought no one was listening to her. Suddenly, she realized what she was singing about and scanned the faces of any who heard, searching to find anyone who might have known Korean. None seemed to know the meaning of the song so she smiled and dipped her head to them in thanks as people started to leave. _I can't believe I just sang about Sasuke and Sai. What was I thinking?_

"Asuma, who's this?" Hinata looked up to find Kakashi standing there, looking at her closely. "She looks like Neji."

"She's his twin. Hinata, this is Kakashi. He owns the company your brother is signed under." Asuma tried to make it like Hinata had never met Kakashi before, and she was more than happy to play along.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm happy that you would sign my brother into Kitsune." She gave a large smile, but Kakashi was still looking at her like he was studying something.

It fell silent for a minute, before Kakashi finally broke it. "How would you like to be signed with me as well?"

"She's already signed under SM Entertainment in Korea." Asuma cut in quickly, trying to save Hinata, but Kakashi only smiled.

"Well then, I guess I have to work a deal out with them. I hope we can work together in the future." And Kakashi left, leaving Hinata alone with Kurenai and Asuma again.

"No more guitar." Asuma quickly took the guitar back from Hinata and closed the case, sticking it back under the couch.

"But that was fun!"

"And now there will be problems with SM. I know Kakashi, and he is going to call them and ask that you work with his company when you debut in Japan, and you might even work over here instead of in Korea and since they made me your manager while you are here, that would mean more work for me that I don't want." Asuma stared down Hinata and didn't give up this time. "So no more guitar in here."

"Fine." Hinata leaned back in the chair and pulled a music player from her bag, putting the earbuds into her ears and closing her eyes. A while later, she woke from her nap and looked around the now-empty room. A tray with some food sat on the table with a note saying it was her lunch, so Hinata dug in. Just as she was finishing, the door opened again, and in walked Kitsune.

Neji sat down next to Hinata on the couch she had been sleeping on, while the others got seats from around the room to sit it. Hinata rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she looked at them. "You're signing just ended?"

"Yep. And we heard about the guitar thing from Asuma." Neji nudged his little sister's shoulder. "I didn't know you were signed in Korea."

"Well I am." She shrugged before yawning. Naruto smiled a little at her, and she smiled back sleepily.

"You're going to be our label mate! It's going to be awesome!" Naruto pumped his fist in the air. "You have to do a duet with us as your first song with the company."

"It's just going to sound like Neji is singing with you guys. It's going to be a hassle." Hinata shrugged before glancing at the time and sighing. _Still hours before the concert._

"Then rap in one of our songs! We've heard you rap before, and you're really good." Naruto smiled at Hinata and Sai nodded a little to his statement in agreement.

"I'm not even in the company yet!" Hinata leaned back in the chair before glancing around the room. "Can we get out of here? I was held captive while you guys were all out signing and having fun. It's kind of boring in here."

There were a few smiles at her comment, but the boys did stand up, so she followed. "Why don't you meet some of the bands we know?" Hinata was led out of the room by the original members of Kitsune, Neji staying back with her. As they wove through the halls of star dressing rooms, Hinata began to wonder just how big the event they were at was, but didn't question it.

They finally stopped outside of a door and Naruto knocked on it quickly. Hinata glanced at the name on the sign, _Suna. How original._

The door was opened by a red head about Naruto's age, and the blonde smiled at him. "Gaara! Are you guys busy?"

"Just getting ready for the concert." The door was pulled open more, and Gaara motioned for them to walk in, bowing his head slightly in greeting. _He must be younger than Naruto._ "Who are they?"

"Neji and Hinata." Sai spoke now, nodding at the two as he said their names. "Neji's our newest member and Hinata's his sister."

"You're the girl who was playing the guitar earlier." It wasn't a question, and Hinata's eyes widened a little that even this new kid knew about that. "We were walking by when you started. You aren't all that bad. Sign for a company sometime soon."

"I'm already signed." Hinata felt some need to defend herself against the boy, even though she knew he wasn't being mean and just trying to give her a tip. But then she glanced past him to the older boy and girl getting ready at the other end of the room.

Gaara noticed and turned around. "My siblings and band mates, Kankuro and Temari." The two turned around at the sound of their names, looking at Hinata curiously as she stood by Kitsune. "She's the one who was singing earlier."

"You're good." Temari said before going back to her makeup. Kankuro nodded before hopping off his stool and shaking off his makeup artist.

"It's nice to see a pretty girl like you for once." He went to grab Hinata's hand, but she barely looked at him.

"Not interested." She kicked him not-so-gently in the shin when he didn't back off at first. "I like my personal space."

Kankuro listened this time, stepping back from Hinata to stand next to Gaara. "Why are you guys here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for the concert?"

"We have some time before makeup because we were just all done for the signing event." Sasuke shrugged before sitting down on the black leather couch in this room. The other boys followed and squeezed on, but there wasn't space for Hinata, so she perched herself on the metal arm above them. "As for why we are here… Hinata got bored of being locked in a room all day, but we're not allowed to take her out from backstage."

"Well, I'll take her, and you boys talk." Temari appeared from seemingly nowhere, her makeup done now, and grabbed Hinata's arm. As she dragged the girl out of the room, she looked back over her shoulder. "And I won't take her away from backstage. I promise."

As soon as they were out of the room, she let go of Hinata's arm to grab the girl's wrist. And then she started to lead the way through more halls and down some stairs to a deeper level of backstage. "Where are you taking me?"

"To get some food. I'm starving and you've been locked in a room all day." Temari turned around another corner before glancing at the doors in the hall before opening one. Three long lines of tables full of food were inside the empty room. The blonde girl grabbed a plate before shoving another into Hinata's hands. "Dig in."

The two filled their plates with food before sitting at one of the few empty tables. As they began to eat, Temari was watching Hinata carefully. "Why'd you do it?"

"Huh?" Hinata froze in the middle of eating, still biting into a chicken leg. She chewed the bite before speaking again. "Do what?"

"Act like your brother in the band." Hinata's eyes widened and Temari smirked. "So I was right, you did… I hadn't known for sure until you reacted like that. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I'm just curious."

"How'd you know?" Hinata pushed the food around on her plate, suddenly not all that hungry.

"You and your brother are different. Not a lot, but you have different mannerisms in some things. You both seem tough at first, but when you guys get cuter you look more girly while he looks like a young boy." Temari shrugged, taking a bite of her own food. "So why'd you do it?"

"He… he was in the US at the beginning and couldn't come back in time for the band, but I couldn't let him miss out on the opportunity." Hinata gave a slight smile and tried to eat a little more food, but wasn't in the mood for it now.

"You're taking the place of him for the concert, aren't you?" Temari got her answer once again from just Hinata's reaction to the question. "They wouldn't put a newbie on this stage. You've had almost a month of practice. That's good enough for it." Hinata nodded at the explanation that was given without asking for it. "I won't tell anyone. I swear."

"Thank you."

"But you have to face off against me on guitar at some point. I'm not going to be beaten by a kid five years younger than me." She kicked Hinata under the table as the girl gave a slight smile at the last part.

"Deal."

"Good." _I look forward to that day, Hyuuga._


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

"Hinata's good…" Now it was Neji's turn to be held captive in the backstage room, and he even was forced to have his hair and makeup re-done so he didn't look like himself anymore, but he was still watching his sister act like him in the concert. "She's really good."

"She's your sister. Stop looking at her like that." Kurenai raised her hand to threaten Neji with a hit that he flinched away from before it came.

"Like what?! I'm just saying she's good at acting like me on stage." Kurenai's eyes narrowed more at him, and Neji even put his hands up in defense. "Saying I'm looking at her like that while she is dressed like me is like saying that I look at myself like that. And that's just weird."

Kurenai backed down a little and Neji let out a sigh when he could finally relax. "I'm told you play guitar as well. Play something." Neji took the guitar that was offered to him even though Kurenai could tell he didn't want to. But still, he situated himself with it and began to play, becoming entranced in the music much like Hinata had been.

When he finally finished, Neji handed the guitar back to Kurenai. "I'm done."

"You're like your sister. She didn't do something for more than ten minutes." Kurenai chuckled a little as she put the guitar away again. "I guess it runs in the family."

"It might, but it doesn't help that it feels like I was kidnapped, being held here." Neji sighed out of boredom, before turning back to the concert on the television, even though he could hear the music from the live show itself.

"That's what your sister said." There was no reply back to the stylist, and Kurenai eventually stood up to start organizing her things. Neji was focused entirely on the television until the door of the room opened and a reporter walking in, talking a mile a minute to introduce himself before finally stopping to look around.

"Sorry, wrong room… Are you Neji? From Kitsune?" Neji froze at the question and Kurenai quickly jumped forward to grab the reporter and direct him out of the room, spewing a random story from her lips while Neji still sat shocked, barely realizing that Kitsune's stage just ended.

"You have to get dressed up like yourself. Now." Kurenai grabbed Neji by his shoulders, pushing the spare stage outfit into his hands as he entered the curtained area to change. As soon as he came back out in the fancier clothing, Kurenai was pushing him into a makeup chair and clearing the old makeup off his face, replacing it with makeup identical to Hinata's Neji look.

"What's going to happen?"

"Your sister is going to have to get out of here quickly so there is no chance that he realizes it was her. You have to take over anything after this." And then Kurenai was attacking the hair to fix it up once again.

"What's going on in here? Why are you putting makeup on him? I'm Neji for the night." Hinata looked at the stylist curiously, but Kurenai didn't even look up as she started barking out orders.

"Hinata, don't fight back at all and change into the outfit on the table. The whole secret is on the line right now." Kurenai finished up on Neji before turning to Hinata, who was glaring at the dress in hand but did go to change. While Hinata was doing that, she turned to the other boys. "A reporter came into here on accident and saw Neji. He has to think Neji was on stage then. Hinata has to get out of here."

They nodded and started coming up with a plan of how to do that on their own while Kurenai turned to put new makeup on Hinata, who was nervously playing with the fringe of the dress, unused to it. "Sit in the chair and be still."

For once, Hinata listen, and Kurenai bombarded her with brushed and makeup and other things, before turning the Hinata's hair. Deciding the scrap the style entirely, Kurenai wetted the hair before drying it expertly in wisps, clipping a hairpin into it before smiling a little. "You look like a pretty girl in that, but it isn't the time to be talking about this right now." Hinata stood from the chair, wobbling a little in the heels Kurenai was forcing her to wear, before turning attention to the boys.

"What's the plan?"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Come on." Sasuke grabbed Hinata's wrist lightly before leading her out into the hallway, making sure no one was there. "Whatever happens, don't look up, okay? And don't speak." Hinata only nodded, listening to him for once. Without warning, Sasuke took off running down the hall, and Hinata stumbled after him, but the older boy didn't stop.

Somewhere behind them, footsteps could be heard, and there stood the reporter, chasing after them, franticly taking pictures of the two as they ran, but neither stopped. Once the reporter was chasing after them, Sai and Naruto slowly crept out of the room, before running in the opposite direction, taking the stairs two at a time to beat Sasuke and Hinata down. Meanwhile, Neji was just leaving the room himself, before going through the halls to Gaara's room. "If anyone asks, I came here right after the show. Please. And don't ask any questions." He pleaded with the three inside the room with his eyes, but it was unneeded as they all nodded without really caring why. They just had a feeling it was something to do with a reporter. It was, just not for the reason they thought.

"When we get to the main floor, you have to run right out. Naruto and Sai will have a car right out front for you." Hinata nodded once again, remembering not to speak or lift her head.

They reached the main floor just as Sai and Naruto were sneaking out a back exit. As Naruto went to get their car, Sai stood by the front doors with his head down and hood up, waiting for Hinata to come running out to grab her and lead the way.

But it was taking too long…

Seeing the headlights of the car Naruto was driving appear but not having Hinata, Sai looked around before slipping inside to the room packed with fans. Pulling a scarf over his face a little more, Sai looked around without quite lifting his head, only to realize most of the fans were crowded in one place. The main stairwell. The one that Sasuke and Hinata were taking.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Run. Now." Sasuke gave Hinata a little push for her to go, but just as she went to open the door to leave the staircase, it was opened from the outside. A girl stood there, looking first at Hinata, before glancing up to Sasuke. Her scream of his name was loud already, but was followed with more as other fangirls—and some fanboys—heard it and came running.

Hinata's eyes widened as she tried to push past the girl, only to be blocked by the crowded coming towards them. "Sasuke was with this girl!" Phones and cameras were clicking away for a picture of her face and Hinata made sure to not look up so her face wouldn't be captured, but it was only a matter of time before they got close enough to see who she was.

Sasuke was barricaded from Hinata by the fans, and there was nothing he could do as they closed in on her. And just when the secret was close to being exposed, he saw the crowd parting as a new name was being screamed. The person coming through reached the end of the crowd in front of Hinata at last and quickly threw his jacket over her shoulders, showing it to be Sai. With one arm holding that on, he undid his scarf and wrapped it around Hinata's neck, covering her face with it.

Reporters were there with the crowd, taking pictures of the scene by now, and Sai wanted to grimace, but he kept his face straight. "Can you please move for my girlfriend and me?"

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say, as the crowds only seemed to get closer, so Sai sighed and held out his arm in front of them to create a small path, leading Hinata through the crowd while keeping her face covered. By the time they broke through the other side, security was there to keep people from chasing after as Sai ran Hinata out the doors to the car. In the stairwell, Sasuke was running for his life back up before fans recovered enough to come after him.

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Hinata?" Sai rapped on her door gently, and got no response. With a sigh, he tried the doorknob and was surprised that it turned in his hand. Without even waiting to think about it, he threw the door open and walked inside, only to freeze at the sight that greeted him. All of Hinata's things were stuffed into her suitcase or backpack, and the room was looking empty. "What's all this?"

Hinata didn't move from the ball under her blankets, and Sai made his way over to the bed, gently sitting beside her. "Are you planning on leaving?" He got a mumbled reply back that was unable to be deciphered. "Hinata, please talk to me."

"I'm just going to screw things up more."

"You didn't screw anything up. Unless there is something you want to tell me…" Sai didn't get a reply once again. "What's this about?"

"Have you seen any online news today?" Hinata didn't wait for a reply before reaching for a laptop right next to her computer. Without even taking her head out from under the blankets, she opened it and turned the computer for Sai to see. "Read."

"'Sai's got a girlfriend'?" He glanced over the article as he read the title aloud.

"Don't say it! I've already seen enough of them." Hinata's head finally popped out from under the blankets, and she still had the makeup on, making her red-tinted eyes stand out more. She had been crying last night. "I'm just going to screw everything up for you guys."

"It's fine. We can clear all this up. It's simple. Don't worry about it. By the time you leave this house again, it will all be forgotten." Sai gave Hinata a little smile and ruffled her hair as he stood. "You might want to wash that makeup off soon."

Hinata seemed to have just realized it was still on and rubbed at her eyes franticly with the back of her hand, but it did little to the makeup. Sai gave a little chuckle as he left the room.

Once he was gone for sure, Hinata grabbed her phone from the table by her bed and typed in a number with her eyes closed. "Hello?"

"Asuma, everyone has schedules today, right?" She crossed her fingers, praying for the answer she needed.

"Yes, why?"

"Can you pick me up as soon as all of them are gone?"

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Are you really doing this?" Asuma held Hinata's arm, keeping her by him to ask the question for the hundredth time.

"Yes. You don't have to come. I'm going to miss my plane. And don't tell them where I am going, either." She shook his grip off of her and started towards the security checks, her lone suitcase trailing behind her as she walked with the backpack she was bringing perched on top. When she finally reached them and started to put her things on the belt, Hinata turned around and found Asuma in the crowd.

For the first and last time, she gave him a completely genuine smile and raised her hand in a little wave, eyes twinkling with excitement and nervousness all rolled into one. Asuma raised his own hand to wave back, giving a small smile in return. "Goodbye, Hinata."

**This is the end! I have to say, I'm **_**extremely**_** proud of this story, but that might just be my first finished chaptered story speaking. I wish I had done a little more in some parts of this, but alas, it is not the end of this tale.**

**Say what?!**

**That's right. I have a sequel to this. A sequel that already has two chapters written for it, so updates might come quickly if I keep up being ahead on chapters. Seeing as I was at least five chapters ahead at any point in writing and posting this story, however, that does not seem likely. Not kidding, I finished writing this story over a month ago… I just haven't gotten around to posting all of the chapters until now…**

**Please don't kill me?**

**But the sequel will be posted soon under the title **_**We Meet Again**_**. Pretty much, Hinata went to Korea and became a big star in her band, while Kitsune fell down on the charts. Three years later after Hinata left, she returns with her band (maybe? I wrote the chapter that says if they come or not a while ago, before I had even finished this story, so I don't remember. Sorry if they end up not going) as a stunt to not only gain them popularity in Japan, but increase the popularity of Kitsune. But will it work? And what will happen along the way?**

**As I'm writing this, I have a feeling there will be romance in the next story, so please stop by my profile to vote on the pairing, or drop a review with your vote. I have to say, I was surprised that nobody said Sasuke/Hinata. I figured a lot of people would have said that, but seeing as there were only 2 votes, I don't have much to go on. Especially since it is a tie… Anyways, thanks and enjoy!**

**Kai**


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